Is there any chance that people will not sin?
I've always sensed a poverty of praxis in my own Reformed ecclesiology. But these days we Reformed Protestants are taking practices seriously, too: anointing, laying hands on the sick, imposing ashes.
Readers may or may not accept Charles Hefling's reconstruction of the doctrine of original sin. But he continues the tradition of rethinking the faith in light of new knowledge, contexts, and concerns.
"Sam!" she says. She's greeting me as if I changed her life. Unfortunately, I haven't a clue who she is.
While many churches are at the end of their lifespans, others need to take root. And we need people fresh out of seminary to start them.
Could Abraham know that God is testing him?
We learn to be Christian not when we succeed at perfection but when we realize that we will always fail.
Drawn to Freedom, by Eberhard Busch
In this long, freewheeling conversation with the Heidelberg Catechism, Eberhard Busch sometimes uses the document for leverage against distortions in the contemporary church, and sometimes challenges its assumptions.
Subversion and hope
In two pages, you go from a simple devotional habit to being sucked into the vortex of global power plays. You must be reading Brueggemann.
Updike, by Adam Begley
Updike's religious explorations are what make his writing so interesting, and Adam Begley explores them well. But he devotes too much space to trying to link fictional settings and characters with Updike's real life.
Dust, by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
Owuor's novel wrestles with Kenya's bitter remnants of colonialism. Yet it suggests that the future can be shaped by people who are willing to incorporate the past with honesty and integrity.
The Death Class, by Erika Hayasaki
Erika Hayasaki, having reported on a succession of traumatic events, read about a popular university class on death. She decided to enroll.
Christians killing Christians
Philip Jenkins vividly synthesizes a specialized historiography: World War I as a global religious conflict.
Lights, camera, teach
In adapting my course for video, I had to learn to bridge the distance between me and students I couldn't imagine, let alone see.