The book of Genesis opens with the creation account describing a beautiful world of sea, earth, sky, plants, fish, birds and other animals. Tucked away in the midst of this story is a curious verse which seems out of place. The verse is Genesis 2:12, which parenthetically mentions that “The gold of that land is…

Just this month, the Social Security Administration announced that Social Security benefits for over 66 million Americans will increase by 3.2 percent in 2024.https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2023/#10-2023-2. For those who receive benefits, this cost-of-living adjustment will be a welcome step to help them deal with the impact of inflation.https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/12/cpi-september-2023.html. Social Security is perhaps the most successful government program…

Talking about eunuchs in the classroom can be awkward. I can still vividly recall the very first course I ever taught and the student in that course who raised her hand to ask innocently, “This Bible verse says something about eunuchs. What’s a eunuch?” As a brand new teacher, I fumbled my response quite badly…

“Take a look and see if you can see the differences here,” I said offhandedly to a student I was tutoring. As soon as I said it, I felt my face go red with shame. What would have been a perfectly unremarkable statement to any other student felt embarrassingly wrong when directed to the student…

Good, but way too busy. Semester’s a little crazy. When can I apply for sabbatical? So much for work/life balance. Hoping things slow down a little. These are responses from colleagues as we pass in the hall and offer a perfunctory, How are you?  We all seemingly bemoan time moving way too quickly – with…

The past few weeks have taught us that we live in an age of moral and political confusion in academia. Administrators at elite universities do not know whether or how to offer moral clarity and wisdom about current events, such as the intentional targeting and butchering of civilians. Unfortunately, the general practice of public statements…

Some years back, I started an experiment of sorts by sharing a poem each day on Facebook.This post originally appeared in a slightly different form at MoralApologetics.com. Circa 2016, social media was becoming increasingly acrimonious, and I thought such a practice might be one way to shine a small but persistent light and beat back…

In the preface to her recent book on theological education, Elizabeth Conde-Frazier describes some of the repeating patterns that she experienced during her childhood as a member of a Latin@ church in New York.Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, Atando Cabos: Latinx Contributions to Theological Education (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2021). In her church, children were drawn into ministry early…

  We should so behave on Earth that Heaven will not be a shock to us. — Pastor Willard BontragerWillard L. Bontrager was pastor of the Coldsprings Mennonite Church, 1949–1994. See the last paragraph of this blog post for additional information. Expectantly, an avid gardener approached me after my presentation at a conference at the…

I can still remember when I first encountered someone with strong convictions about overpopulation and children. I was a graduate student attending an Evangelicals for Social Action initiative, funded by the Pew Foundation (before it secularized). The wonderful program created by Joel Carpenter paired Christian graduate students with Christian faculty for intellectual mentorship. I am…