Search
Search

Article Archives

Category: Discipleship

I Gave Up Too Soon!

Late last year we had some birch trees cut down in front of our house. The trunks were over a foot thick. I thought the roots would threaten the house’s foundations. Also the trees’ frequent

Read More »

Is the Gospel a Fairy Tale?

Marina Warner has written an intriguing book, Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale (Oxford: 2014, 201 pp.). The book plunges deep into the well of fairy tales. From various angles it

Read More »

The Church and Dunbar’s Number

How large should your church be? Silly question, you say. Depending on your theology or worldview, you might add: * Large as possible! Bigger is better! * That’s up to God! * I’m shooting for

Read More »

Return of the King

Ponder these short parables: The king of a great land was about to take a long journey. He called his top three officials together. “I am putting you in charge while I am gone,” he

Read More »

The Promise and Peril of Populism

Let’s ponder the promise and peril of populism. Or maybe the triumph and terror of populism. Follow the news for a random hour, and you’ll probably hear the words populism and populist. “Populist revolt.” “populist

Read More »

Blessed Virgin Mary?

Taking a class in medieval Christian worship at Notre Dame in 1975, I quickly learned what BVM meant. Blessed Virgin Mary. Not Bureau of Motor Vehicles. This is the season when we especially remember Mary,

Read More »

Most Important Book of 2016

The most important book of 2016 is The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, by Alan Kreider (Baker Academic, 2016, 321 pp.). I say this after

Read More »

What Pocahontas Found in Heaven

Most people these days know something about Pocahontas. Some even know the true story of her conversion to Christianity, and perhaps of the catechetical instruction she went through. But most people don’t know what happened

Read More »

The Problem of Evil Solved!

(Based on a non-canonical hypothetical conversation between Jesus and Thomas.) For forty days after his resurrection, Jesus met often with his apostles, speaking about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). The apostles asked many questions

Read More »

What’s Mission? Ask Jesus

  In the Gospel of John, Jesus says he came to “finish the work” the Father had sent him to do. He prays that his disciples all “may be one, Father, just as you are

Read More »

Welfare for the Rich?

Should Christians support welfare for the rich? It might make sense. If the rich get richer, everyone benefits. Pour water into a cup long enough and it flows down abundantly, giving everyone a drink. I

Read More »