Authors /
Gilbert Meilaender
Gilbert Meilaender teaches theology at Valparaiso University in Indiana.
Thirst for life: Do we really want to live forever?
Desirable as living forever may sound, it invites us to forget another kind of desire that we creatures should not quench.
April 12, 2013
Fitness fixation: Why health is not a civic virtue
"Those who are well have no need of a physician,” Jesus said. We now know, however, that they do have need of a wellness coach....
October 16, 2007
Entering Narnia
...
November 28, 2005
Nothing to boast of: A Reformation insight
After all the media attention to things (Roman) Catholic in recent weeks, this may be a useful moment to reflect on the continuing significance of the Reformation....
May 31, 2005
Adoptees one and all: A letter to Derek
Dear Derek: I wrote last time that being adopted makes you different, and so, of course, in an obvious way it does....
September 6, 2003
Being adopted: A letter to Derek
Dear Derek: I’ve written you four letters already, and it occurs to me that, although I’ve talked about how we adopted you, I haven’t said all that much about what being adopted actually means....
August 23, 2003
Silence: A letter to Derek
Dear Derek: It’s awfully quiet around the house now that you’re gone. In fact, hardly a day goes by that Mom and I don’t remark on it....
August 9, 2003
Moment-ousness: A letter to Derek
In my last letter I wrote about how decisions made in a moment—such as the moment when we decided to say yes to your coming into our home—can shape the whole of life, committing us in ways we perha...
July 26, 2003
Living into commitments: A letter to Derek
Dear Derek: In my last letter I commented on how casually I said yes when Mom asked whether we should agree to have you come into our home as a foster child....
July 12, 2003
Gifts and achievements: A letter to Derek
Dear Derek: I have not forgotten the day we learned that you would be coming to live with us. I was sitting in my office at Oberlin and Mom called....
June 28, 2003
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Interfaith ‘prayer’: What is it and should we do it?
A contemporary reader of the New Testament letter we call 1 Corinthians is likely to be a little puzzled by the amount of attention it gives to whether the Corinthian Christians could eat meat that...
October 23, 2002
C.S. Lewis Then and Now, by Wesley Kort
Here's a strange book. Wesley Kort wants to retrieve the thought of C. S. Lewis and make it more readily available and usable in our cultural context. Retrieve from whom?...
April 9, 2002
After September 11: Thinking as Christians
In the terrible terrorist attacks of September 11, thousands of our fellow citizens were buried under the rubble. The rest of us have been buried under the rubble of words that followed....
September 26, 2001
That demon love: Unchecked devotion
Affection is the most instinctive, in that sense the most animal, of the loves; its jealousy is proportionately fierce....
January 24, 2001
Divine summons: Working in the horizon of God’s call
I have learned over the years that students, wearily carrying out a writing assignment, often have recourse to the dictionary....
November 1, 2000
Love abides: The posture of faithfulness
"Love never ends,” St. Paul writes in the lesson we read from 1 Corinthians 13. Or, put more positively, “love abides.” What does that really mean—to say that “love abides”? Or, indeed, what possible sense could it make to say this in a world in which the truth so clearly seems to be that love quite often does not abide?
October 11, 2000