In his Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, the eighteenth-century founder of Methodism, John Wesley, strove for biblical commentary that penetrated deeply yet remained concise and clear. Discontent with mere intellectual insights, Wesley yearned to assist the “learned and unlearned” to understand better God’s ways so that they would progress in joy and character development…
Joshua R. Canada is Director of Strategic Partnerships in the College of Liberal Arts, Azusa Pacific University. On April 28, 2018, society lost one of its premier scholars. At age 79, James Cone, a central figure in the development of Black liberation theology, went on to glory. Cone’s 1969 book, Black Theology and Black Power,…
In teaching Biblical studies, I have come to view the integration of faith and learning less as a movement from doing to becoming and more as a process from being to becoming. It is less a movement from something to another, and more a maturation process, the transformation of one’s identity, brought about through the…
Timothy Tennent’s new book For the Body delivers on its subtitle: recovering a theology of gender, sexuality, and the human body. The recovery reaches back to traditional Christian teachings, applying a conservative ethic grounded in a high view of Scripture to today’s church and society. Tennent is the president of Asbury Theological Seminary, as well…
In recent years there has been criticism of Christians working in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), particularly as a platform for Christian evangelism. While the critiques have been remarkably strong by non-Christians, a few Christians have also chosen to share some problems in this area. Christian and Critical English Language Educators in…
Alan Roxburgh begins the “Forward” to this text with an interesting and concise message regarding why and for whom the book was written and the intended story of the book. While Roxburgh suggests that the book is intended to be a guide for leaders, it appears as though the book may be aimed at pastors…
Editor’s note: This blog is part II of a two-part series based on questions Professor Kim received from his two daughters, Alyssa (7th grade) and Abigail (5th grade), after taking them to his class one day. For Part I see here. Abigail: Do you like your students? Do they like you? Yes, Abigail, I do…
After my recent transition from my role as an academic librarian to an appointment as a theology professor at my institution, I wrote a post about the parallels between the two positions. To briefly summarize, I argued that the Christian librarian models ways of pursuing the deeper, intellectual questions of life and faith. When engaged…
Philip Ryken is the President of Wheaton College, where he has served since 2010. The author or editor of more than fifty Bible commentaries and other books, Dr. Ryken provides leadership on the boards of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and the National Assocation of Evangelicals (NAE). He was recently appointed as…
Any professor using a popular professional ethics textbook in their class is likely secularizing the moral thinking of their students. To help you understand why that is the case, I want to outline briefly the history and reemergence of professional ethics and then sketch the nature of most common professional ethics texts. A Brief History…
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 ESV But thanks be to God, who in Christ Jesus, always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from…
Giant kelp. It’s a species of algae that can grow over 50 meters tall, making it the largest marine algae. It’s also one of the fastest growing living things on our planet. On its own, giant kelp is an impressive part of God’s creation. However, I’d argue that the true beauty of this species also…
“…[Y]ou will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8 In 1997, Roy Seals, a long-time friend of mine who was then serving as the South American director at a Baptist missionary organization, invited me to accompany him to the Venezuelan rain…
“It is a triumph of science to have, in some degree, described the electron, and preposterous to suggest is has been explained.” —Marilynne Robinson, The Givenness of Things Faith integration is a task integral to the vocation of Christian education. It’s become a buzzword and identity marker: good Christian education means robust faith integration. Faith…
Jesus was once asked “Who is my neighbor?” His answer was to tell a story about caring for an enemy, implying that his followers are to serve others in spite of any social barriers between them. Matthew S. Vos explores such barriers as he examines the theme of “the stranger” in sociological theory, Christian theology,…
Jesus was once asked “Who is my neighbor?” His answer was to tell a story about caring for an enemy, implying that his followers are to serve others in spite of any social barriers between them. Matthew S. Vos explores such barriers as he examines the theme of “the stranger” in sociological theory, Christian theology,…
When I teach our Natural Sciences Capstone seminar class, I must give the graduating seniors a challenging, cumulative assignment, appropriate to a 1-credit seminar course that meets once a week. In my class, these opposing requirements are met by assigning them to write a two-page proposal for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program…
For what seemed like hours, I stared in shock at the words on my computer screen. In a course feedback comment, a student had written, using a racial slur, that I was not qualified to teach the course because of my Asian identity. There was also the time that a student openly mocked Asian cultures…
Our impulse to light the night with glowing colors at Christmastime is a good one. This is the time when “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:1 NIV; see also Mt. 4:16) Colors are good parts of a good creation—signposts to what is true, good, and beautiful. Paul describes Christian…
“It just wears you out being with nice people,” Stanley Hauerwas points out in a 2019 YouTube video. Having lived in the South most of his life, he likely knows this reality from experience. As Hauerwas did not describe the genesis of such feelings, I will suggest four reasons why this reality is the case….
