Featured Articles
How Big a Jerk Will Your Reading of the Bible Allow You to Be?
Hermeneutics, the science and art of biblical interpretation, is just that, a science and art. It requires deep thought, and there is a lot of complexity, subtly, and nuance. Because it’s difficult, people of sincere faith reach different conclusions. Engaging in hermeneutics is not for those who want simple answers or desire certainty. If you want those things, you’ve come to the wrong book.
Featured Articles
Moving Forward Looking Backward
I couldn’t make sense of the signage. The further I walked up the trail, the further I was from the end. Then I realized that I was hiking on the land of indigenous people who, unlike Westerners, viewed their world as expanding from a single source and marked space and time from their point of origin. The Agua Caliente people were telling me how far I had come from where I had begun. That perspective gave me pause. It is wise counsel, not only on the Murray Canyon trail, but on the trail of life. Always be mindful of the place where you began.
Standing at the Intersection, Seated at the Lord’s Table
The table signifies many things, including a rhythm, a routine, and the promise that this is the bread of life and the cup of salvation.
Language Learning: Moving from Hostility to Hospitality
If I had wanted to become a fluent German speaker, I should have started before I was ten years old, which seems to be the
The End of White Western Male Supremacy – Lessons Learned from Henk Hart
Before I go any further, I should clarify that I’m not channeling Critical Race Theory or parroting something I picked up in a DEI training.
Taking the Plunge in the Secular City: Harvey Wasn’t on the Bus
It may have been The Secular City by Harvey Cox that stirred the pot. Five years after the book’s debut in 1965, a yellow school
In the Overlap: A Short Story
I have no idea how to be a decent soon-to-be-former-mother-in-law. My local library has no self-help books on the topic. I find no such books
A Lesson Never Learned
Because synod has left no space for other opinions, the end result is going to be disaffiliation. The fact that our congregation was even in
Latest from the Blog
Daily blog by our regular bloggers & guest contributors.
The Silence of Waiting
Uncovering hidden Christs in rests, like they were Easter tombs.
Suffering Pilates
As a Pilate disliker, I always resented his presence in the creeds. He felt like such an inappropriate presence, a festering sliver, an interloper.
In Defense of Hobbies
When I was in graduate school, I wanted to try something new, so I joined a local roller derby team. I loved the opportunity to
Go to Dark Gethsemane
It’s here we reach the pinnacle of Christian doctrine and a hornet’s nest of intra-Christian disputes
Life on the Border Today
Illegal crossings peaked in the first Trump administration and again early in Biden’s term, but the numbers have been declining since 2023 and are now
Lead Us Not Into Temptation?
Many struggle with its final petition: “Lead us not into temptation,” in the King’s English. Does God tempt people into sinning?
Blossom and Rise
A friend asked me weeks ago now, “what can we do?” and I put him off, promising I’d think about it and write something. But
Our Own Superheroes
Because I moved so often as a child–nine places but thirteen residences–I’m apt to say I’m not really “from” anywhere. But that’s probably not totally
Reviews
A Balm for Gilead: Meditations on Spirituality and the Healing Arts
Health professionals have long emphasized a certain mental toughness that, although quite functional and healthy in many ways, can sometimes lead to a dysfunctional and
Holland is a Dud
I’m sorry to say, Holland is a dud, a movie with more plot holes than a piece of Swiss cheese (with no Gouda or Edam
The Way of Belonging: Reimagining Who We Are and How We Relate
Westfall encourages her readers to not only know and accept our belonging to God but also to live into the fact that belonging isn’t where
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
Schlanger’s extensive review of cutting-edge plant research reveals that our green neighbors have numerous tricks up their shady sleeves.
How to End Christian Nationalism
Amanda Tyler’s timely new book, How to End Christian Nationalism, is a short and accessible addition to an expanding list of books written by Christians
Invoking the Fathers: Dangerous Metaphors and Founding Myths in Congressional Politics
I highly recommend Invoking the Fathers to anyone interested in navigating the current moment in American history or improving their understanding and practice of rhetoric,
Healing What’s Within: Coming Home to Yourself–and to God–When You’re Wounded, Weary, and Wandering
Healing What’s Within is like a two-hundred page conversation with a sage spiritual director.
This Sweet Earth: Walking with Our Children in the Age of Climate Collapse
Wylie-Kellermann’s book is a hope-filled, though realistic call to subvert the darkest version of that future through a variety of means.
Poetry
Wrapped and Laid
Wrapped and laid beginning and end bloth and cloth birth and death …
Every Sunday Morning
the phone rings–my grandmother’s voice winds through static, light as the creek curling around her back porch …
It’s About Us
It’s about us which is an empathy pronoun, replacing her and him and you and it and, praise the Lord, other.
Lost Sheep
Seventy-seven pounds of wool on that merino sheep who got lost
in the Outback.
Table
Let the sparrow take a chair at the Juneteenth table with Elijah …
You Said, Let There Be Light
You said, Let there be light, and there was light. And you saw that the light was good …
Podcasts
“Manual Labor” by Caroline Liberatore
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Caroline Liberatore about her poem “Manual Labor.” Liberatore is a
“Wrapped and Laid” by Bill Howden
In this week’s episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews William D. Howden on his poem “Wrapped and Laid.” Howden
“Every Sunday Morning” by Taylor Mallay
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Taylor Mallay about her poem “Every Sunday Morning.” Mallay is a
“It’s About Us” by Mark Hiskes
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Mark Hiskes about his poem “It’s About Us.” Hiskes is a
“Lost Sheep” by Margaret DeRitter
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Margaret DeRitter about her poem “Lost Sheep.” DeRitter is the
“Table” by Patrick T. Reardon
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Patrick T. Reardon about his poem “Table.” Reardon, who was