Category: Church
An Unresolved and Perilous Ambiguity
Recently, the 48th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America convened in St. Louis, Missouri. While much important business was conducted in the span of a few days, considerable attention was directed to the issue of ordination standards, particularly...
Marcion’s “Gift”
The church’s participation in various historical injustices is a familiar theme, one rehearsed in some instances to discredit her, but in others to prompt her to needful repentance. But the primordial sin of the church which makes other, more tangible...
Lessons from the Downfall of Ravi Zacharias
I interviewed Ravi Zacharias on radio in October of 1997. He could not have been more gracious. My show ran from 5-6 pm on Saturdays. I always called my guests a few hours before to make sure they were ready...
Preaching as Confession
‘Three Vicars Talking’ is not what one expects to hear on BBC radio. The Reverends Richard Coles, Kate Bottley, and Giles Fraser pull back the curtain on the strange world of Anglican ministry, offering their audience a raw, unfiltered look...
Missiology After Liberalism
Christians concerned with contextualizing the gospel (i.e. thinking and living missionally) should consider the liabilities of the culture and society they inhabit. The excesses and vulnerabilities of various cultures are places where the gospel should come to bear. In western...
From the Ashes
Despite formidable remnants of power, the western late-modern system and its globally imperial philosophies are collapsing under the weight of their internal inconsistencies and increasingly visible external shortcomings. For evidence of our collectively culpable failure, one need only look to...
A Tale of Two Churches
I. Hamburg In 2019 I found myself working in Hamburg, Germany during the city’s celebration of a popular local holiday: Reformationstag, or Reformation Day.
Advent IV: The Coming(s) of Christ and Our Hope
The Epistle to the Hebrews might not be the first place we turn for Advent readings. We hear nothing of Mary or a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. In fact, Hebrews offers no reflections on the birth of Jesus and...
Advent II: Expectant Waiting
As 2020 has lingered on, I have watched as marker after marker of a year’s progression have been overtaken by an endless sea of sameness: one weekend blurs into the next, one Zoom call into the next. The rhythms of...
Advent I: The Face of God
The deepest desire of the people of God is to see the face of God. The Psalmist gives voice to this desire in the form of exhortation: “seek his face always” (105:4). The invocation of Israel’s priests answers this desire...