“If religion is messy, we are a nation of slobs.” So writes Liz Bucar in the introduction to her book, Stealing My Religion. This thought gives me pause as I reflect on the current state …
Is the church and America guilty of the sin of Sodom? Wow! What a provocative question. Given the political culture in the USA right now, the mind automatically goes to issues like same-sex marriage and …
Like most people, I did not get Raptured on Rosh Hashanah. At this point, I have not been a part of a Rapture-emphasizing tradition for more of my life than I was, but I came …
What did Jesus do? If we are honest, we have to admit that evangelicals often treat people badly, and we certainly do not have a good reputation. The hackneyed church expression is that we are …
“Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength . . .” (Psalm 8:2) Our middle child, Paul, married a wonderful young woman, Krystyana, whom we were so pleased to welcome into …
Deconstruction is all the rage. It seems we are constantly bombarded with news of evangelical celebrities who have deconstructed their faith. Often, this leads, eventually, to news of the celebrity leaving the faith. What is …
I am pausing to reflect on the fickle fate of kings as I prepare to unleash the French Revolution in my undergraduate civilization class next semester. January anniversaries present an interesting study of both the …
I grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. I graduated from Hackensack High in 1971, earned my B.A. from Cornell University in 1975, and received a master’s degree in magazine …
I am not a person who listens to a lot of Contemporary Christian Music. For perhaps four years in my late teens/early twenties, I listened exclusively to that genre, primarily reflecting my fresh faith and …
For good or ill—and I think it was almost exclusively good—I grew up in a small country church that was disconnected from the broader Christian culture. I did not grow up listening to Christian music. …