Loving Jesus: The Spiritual Heart of a Cosmopolitan Faith

October 7, 2019

I’m Calvinian in my faith in Christ, which I believe nurtures in me a cosmos-wide faith—really a cosmopolitan faith. We love the world, because the world belongs to God. But does this tradition shape me to love Jesus as both divine friend and the hope of the world? In other words, does the weight of tradition overwhelm the heart of our spirituality–our prayerful connection to God? … More Loving Jesus: The Spiritual Heart of a Cosmopolitan Faith

Diverse Diversity in the Public University: A Book Review of Wolterstorff’s “Religion in the University”

September 5, 2019

Wolterstorff’s goal: to establish the place of religion in the public university in a liberal democracy. Not its legal or moral place, but its place within the role-ethic of a scholar in such a context. … More Diverse Diversity in the Public University: A Book Review of Wolterstorff’s “Religion in the University”

Dying to the Genius of Youth: Andrew Root vs. John Seel on the Future of the Church

August 26, 2019

I just had an article published with The Christian Courier in which I review some recent books on youth, faith, and church. The subject, of course, is close to the heart of the university, as it is dedicated to the formation of youth for wisdom and service in society. To be for higher education is … More Dying to the Genius of Youth: Andrew Root vs. John Seel on the Future of the Church

The Spirit World in Africa and the West: Contextual Theology for the Church

June 17, 2019

Esther Acolatse frames the problem well: a hermeneutical gap between the church in the global South and modern West. The African church, with its animist cultural heritage and the influence of divination found in African traditional religions, lives in an enchanted world where the conflicts of angels and demons affect the details of everyday life. … More The Spirit World in Africa and the West: Contextual Theology for the Church

The Corpus of James K. A. Smith: Worldview Made Flesh

June 17, 2019

Dr. James K. A. Smith has been called both an “academic rock star” and “a faithful guide” and I want to commend his postliberal Biblical vision for creaturely life to you. I have been following him for years, trying to keep up with his prolific writing, identifying him as a post-boomer peer who offers a fresh paradigm and practice for Christians. I would describe him best as a provocative public intellectual: a self-described “philosophical theologian with interest in socio-political realities” who teaches at Calvin University in Michigan. … More The Corpus of James K. A. Smith: Worldview Made Flesh

Four “Social Imaginaries” Shaping the Modern University

June 2, 2019

“The contemporary university is hollow at its core.  Not only does it lack a spiritual center, but it is also without any real alternative.” So said George Marsden over two decades ago in The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship (Oxford, 1997) and this was echoed in many ways twenty years later in 2017 through Glanzer, … More Four “Social Imaginaries” Shaping the Modern University

Thinking as Conversion: Book Review

June 1, 2019

Alan Jacobs. How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds. Currency, 2017. First published in The Christian Courier here: http://www.christiancourier.ca/columns-op-ed/entry/thinking-as-conversion How To Think is not about finding truth as much as it is about preventing us from shooting people with whom we disagree. The subtitle gives it away: a survival guide for … More Thinking as Conversion: Book Review

Christian Worldview 101

June 1, 2019

Worldviews are the way we view the world and its moral order. G. K. Chesterton maintained that while it is important for a landlady to know the income of her renter, it is more important for her to know his worldview. “The most practical and important thing about a man,” he said, “is still his view of the universe.” … More Christian Worldview 101