Engaging the Global Polylogue: Why Listen to Christians in the Majority World When it Comes to Sexual Ethics?

December 1, 2021

Is the majority world on the wrong side of history when it comes to sexual ethics? Where harsh laws exist criminalizing homosexual acts, it seems to be true. But Western arrogance in declaring the direction of history could be seen as the vestiges of colonialism. What about the church? Who is having their ethics sullied by their social context? Here I don’t give all the answers, but I do raise some issues and say we can at least start by listening to each other. … More Engaging the Global Polylogue: Why Listen to Christians in the Majority World When it Comes to Sexual Ethics?

The Lost Art of Friendship: Building Trust and Affection with Strangers as the Medicine of Life

November 18, 2021

In his book The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis writes: “To the Ancients, Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue. The modern world, in comparison, ignores it.” Its not just that we are poorer without friends, but one can die without friends. … More The Lost Art of Friendship: Building Trust and Affection with Strangers as the Medicine of Life

A Train Wreck in Slow Motion: The Rise and Fall of Mark Driscoll’s Unbridled Charisma

November 10, 2021

This new podcast from Christianity Today is dramatic, critical, intense, and wide-ranging in its exploration of the collapse of an evangelical megachurch and its megapersonality, Mark Driscoll. The production is stellar, and the analysis both trenchant and candid. The trailer says: “Its a story of power, platform and fame, and an unflinching look at the cost.” … More A Train Wreck in Slow Motion: The Rise and Fall of Mark Driscoll’s Unbridled Charisma

Taking the Bible Seriously in Scholarship

October 27, 2021

A biblically Christian worldview is well positioned to compensate for the compartmentalization we see in the secular academy. After all, our most basic confession as Christians is that our world belongs to God, which has huge ramifications for our task as academics. If God has brought into being an orderly creation subject to his laws and norms, we can come to our respective fields of scholarly endeavour confident that they find their place within an integral whole sustained by God himself through Jesus Christ. … More Taking the Bible Seriously in Scholarship

Dr. Jean Bieri: A World of Wonders from Electrons to the Cosmos

October 17, 2021

Our Global Scholar Dr. Jean Bieri died of natural causes, alone in his own apartment in Montreal, Quebec, on the weekend of September 25th 2021. This was sudden and unexpected, and we are in a state of shock and disbelief. I looked back at his application for our guild and pieced together a few reflections on his life and faith. … More Dr. Jean Bieri: A World of Wonders from Electrons to the Cosmos

An Elephant in the World Religions Classroom: Parsing a Parable

September 14, 2021

The Blind Men and the Elephant is a well-known story that reminds us we are all a little bit right and a little bit wrong. But are we equally right and equally wrong? And who is the king who sees that there are blind men and an elephant? There is something suspicious in this parable worth parsing… … More An Elephant in the World Religions Classroom: Parsing a Parable

Chinese-Christian Cross-Cultural Learning in Higher Education

August 25, 2021

This guest blog by comparative education specialist Ruth Hayhoe shows how the model of Christian liberal arts universities finds affinities and historical integration with Confucian ideals in China, suggesting that some of these integrated Chinese universities–with their commitment to moral formation, community service and global citizenship education, may be an exemplar for other cultures to follow. … More Chinese-Christian Cross-Cultural Learning in Higher Education

Grace in the Play of Role Reversals: Muslim Hospitality to Christians in the West

August 3, 2021

I was guest at a Muslim Society event in my home town of Guelph, which prompted me to re-consider the notion of hospitality. We usually view the practise from the superior position of the host. But if it is true that worship is a participation in God’s Trinitarian hospitality, we might do well to consider the notion from the role of guest and the spiritual practise of guesting (yes, it’s a word). This is especially relevant in the post-Christian West, and in the context of a polycentric World Christianity. … More Grace in the Play of Role Reversals: Muslim Hospitality to Christians in the West

Jesus Laughed and So Should You

June 22, 2021

The fact is, most Christian kids are familiar with the verse “Jesus wept.” Why? In some English translations, it’s the shortest verse in the whole Bible. It stands out. What is so beautiful and comforting about this prominence is that it emphasizes the humanity of Jesus. Believers can know God cries for his friends, as his grief comes at the death of his friend Lazarus. But what is so unfortunate and misleading about the prominence of this verse is that there is no equivalent that pops to mind which reveals that Jesus’ humanity also included his laughter. … More Jesus Laughed and So Should You