Science and Faith Conference Tackles Wicked Problems: 50 Years of Christian Scientific Discussions

September 12, 2023

“Moving Forward Together: The Future of Science and Faith” was the title of the annual conference for the ASA and the CSCA July 28-31 2023 at the University of Toronto Mississauga campus. Attendees engaged each other over a host of wicked problems that confound and intrigue humanity today, and did so with a depth of realism and hope. … More Science and Faith Conference Tackles Wicked Problems: 50 Years of Christian Scientific Discussions

“To Thine Own Self Be True”: A Pathway to Liberation or Loneliness?

September 11, 2023

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?

State Control of Religious Education in Public Schools: The Need for Critical Religious Literacy Beyond State Interests

August 22, 2023

Leo Van Arragon argues that our children are being done a deep disservice if they only receive anemic religious classes that are sanctioned only to benefit the state. He posits a new critical form of religious literacy that helps students develop a deeper sense of meaning in their life–while understanding others’ religion more accurately. … More State Control of Religious Education in Public Schools: The Need for Critical Religious Literacy Beyond State Interests

“Letters from Moscow”: The Opening and Closing of Russia, a Thousand Year History

June 22, 2023

What is happening in Russia that it would sacrifice its young men, military budget, Ukrainian relatives, and Western relations in an attack on Ukraine? Global Scholars Canada asked a few of its scholars and some academic friends to weigh in on the larger historical, political, and ecclesiastical context behind the war that continues to rage in eastern Ukraine. … More “Letters from Moscow”: The Opening and Closing of Russia, a Thousand Year History

Deconstructing Deconstruction: Jersak’s Chronicle of Spiritual Detox

May 17, 2023

He is one of the key Canadian voices when it comes to the notion of faith deconstruction, and he’s just published his 18th (or so) book entitled Out of the Embers: The Great Deconstruction this past fall. Angela Bick and I interviewed him for our own forthcoming book on deconstructing Canadians with New Leaf Press. He gave us a friendly, personal, and at times poignant conversation about his de/reconstruction with Jesus, “history’s all-time, hinge-point proponent and practitioner of de/reconstruction.” … More Deconstructing Deconstruction: Jersak’s Chronicle of Spiritual Detox

Fred Reinders (1930-2023): A Life of Structural and Moral Integrity

February 9, 2023

Born in 1930 Friesland, Fred Reinders was a dreamer, a visionary, and a leader, and he expressed that gift first of all through engineering design and construction. The Dutch have a proverb, roughly translated, that says “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Well, Fred left the shores of his native Netherlands in 1953 to see what opportunities lie in Canada and it seems his life was a series of calculated risks from there on. … More Fred Reinders (1930-2023): A Life of Structural and Moral Integrity

Have a Righteous Christmas, Joseph Style: A Meditation on a Saint in a Season of Sexual Misconduct

December 12, 2022

Was St. Joseph’s character more about being righteous or being just? The original Greek word opens up possibilities in meaning that have been a matter of a translation debate which has implications for sexual ethics today. … More Have a Righteous Christmas, Joseph Style: A Meditation on a Saint in a Season of Sexual Misconduct