April is National Poetry Month
That's not the best title for a blog, is it? I wonder how many people might see the title and click away to a different website because they're "just not…
Technologies: New and Old
I recently heard someone my age (I’m 56) bemoaning the loss of the ability to reason by people my kids’ ages (they’re in their 20s). “The younger generation can’t reason…
Leveling the Playing Field
A friend asked me how I would respond to a situation in which he found himself. He felt trapped. As a campus minister through a local church, he was invited…
The Rise of the “Nones”
Time magazine’s March 12th cover story, 10 Ideas that are Changing Your Life, includes the news that “the fastest-growing religious group in the U.S. is the category of people who…
Honest Answers to Honest Questions
To celebrate what would have been Francis Schaeffer’s one hundredth birthday, I recently read two books about him. I commented about Colin Duriez’s excellent biography a few weeks ago. Today…
The Penultimate Character of Marriage
I’m enjoying Tim and Kathy Keller’s book on marriage, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God. If ever there was an engaging example of “thoughtful faith and faithful thinking,” this book certainly is it. And, unlike many books on marriage, both married and single people can benefit greatly from reading it.
Schaeffer – Just as Timely as Ever
I just finished reading an excellent biography of one of my heroes, Francis Schaeffer. Colin Duriez has done an excellent job of weaving insights from numerous sources – most notably, Schaeffer’s writings and interviews of family and friends who knew him best.
Noll’s Hopefulness
In the previous post I quoted some lines from Mark Noll’s new book Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind. I think this book is worth careful study and thorough discussion by Christians called to academia. It is also worth a close read by others who value the life of the mind.
Given the negative tone of Noll’s earlier landmark book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, it is encouraging that he is now more hopeful. Here is an important line from his new book’s postscript, “How Fares the ‘Evangelical Mind’?”
Christ-centered Thoughtfulness
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A new book by Mark Noll deserves thoughtful consideration by all of Christ’s followers…not just those serving in academic venues. Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind challenges everyone to consider the difference the Christian worldview makes in the ways we think and the ways we think about thinking.
George Marsden’s landmark work from 1997, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, argued that the pillars of the Christian worldview – creation, fall, redemption, and consummation – should shape the way Christian scholars approach their work.
Beware the Pendulum
A common mistake in popular reasoning about complex issues is to swing from one unhealthy or inaccurate extreme to an equally (or worse) unhealthy or inaccurate extreme in the opposite direction. We swing the pendulum from one bad place to another.