A meditation on boat idioms as a way to talk about the culture wars that rock the church today. “Whatever floats your boat” is inadequate, but “don’t rock the boat” is also unwise. Is it even possible for us all to “be in the same boat” anymore as smaller Protestant denominations? … More NO LONGER IN THE SAME BOAT: How the Storm of Culture Wars Leaves Us Out at Sea
This documentary film is being shown in churches to spark conversation on sexual ethics, although it is not trying to portray both sides of the ethical divide. Yet it points out the complexities of Biblical translation, the tensions of family relationships, and leaves us wanting more. … More Two Stars for the film _1946_: Lessons in Bible Translation and Ethical Debate
The Life of Pi is a parable for the church today as it offers an apocalyptic vision–a tale of both destruction and revelation. … More End of the Frontier: Church, Apocalypse, and _The Life of Pi_
This is the story of one student in the M.A. (Biblical Studies) program we sponsor with scholarships at The University of The Gambia. We are helping teach students to be Christian teachers in their country. … More Student Profile: Sang Gomez, The Gambia, Bible Teacher in Training
A meditation by Pastor Carel Geleynse urging Christians to imitate their Lord and restore the reputation of the church in an age of startling abuse and cultural polarization. … More After Abuse, Still the Sanctuary: Living Stones of the Spiritual House Whose Cornerstone Never Fails
Music is a common conflict source within congregations, but worship wars are not the only reason for Sunday morning to be tense. How can we work toward reconciliation through music and other parts of our worship services? In a world so torn by conflict, can the church model some peace-making? … More Church Music, Conflict and Reconciliation: Scriptural, Spiritual, Sonic, and Symbolic Implications
This Reformation Day, I’m thinking about reformation as a form of deconstruction. “Always reforming” can too easily feel like it’s about re-shaping something, renovating it, giving it a make-over. It sounds too clean, maybe even bureaucratic — like a policy change. But if reformation is like deconstruction, it can be messy. … More Reformation Day Math: Dividing, Subtracting, and Adding as God’s Messy Arithmetic
Why do we sing so many songs produced by Hillsong in our churches? I did some investigating, asking lay people and experts on the value of these songs, and put it all in the context of recent scandals in this church. Is there nothing else we can sing? … More Discordant Notes on a Scandalized Hillsong Music Industry: When Praise Becomes Performance
A meditation on Psalm 139 for our polarized times using a neologism of “anthropological math.” … More Honest to God: A Meditation on Psalm 139
Here I explore Canadian sociologist Sam Riemer’s book Caught in the Current: British and Canadian Evangelicals in an Age of Self-Spirituality (McGill-Queens 2023). His argument is that concerns over church decline, sexual ethics, and the exit of youth from church are just the surface of our cultural sea. The underlying current that drives all the visible issues is self-spirituality, and more specifically, a shift from a locus of external authority to internal authority. … More “To Thine Own Self Be True”: A Pathway to Liberation or Loneliness?
Sensus Divinitatis 