Commentary

As Summer Ends — (Late) Summer Reading List 2022

This year my Summer Reading List is definitely testing the boundaries of summer. But I claim as justification the fact that the days are still warm an...

August 8, 2022

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Letter from Berlin: The Lessons of History and the Heresy of Racial Superiority

To the Christians of the United States: As I write, I am looking at the modern city of Berlin on a beautiful Sunday. The parks and streets are filled with people, the churches far less so. Berlin is now a hyper-modern metropolis, with relatively f ...

August 13, 2017

“God Made Me for China” — Eric Liddell Beyond Olympic Glory

The medal ceremony at the Olympics is a moment of rare pomp and ceremony in this informal age. The ceremonies represent both climax and catharsis, with athletes awarded the coveted gold, silver, and bronze medals placed around their necks. It was ...

July 25, 2017

Of First Importance: The Priority of the Cross and the Empty Tomb

The Christian faith is not a mere collection of doctrines — a bag of truths. Christianity is a comprehensive truth claim that encompasses every aspect of revealed doctrine, but is centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And, as the apostolic preachin ...

April 14, 2017

Impossible to Believe — Preaching in a Secular Culture

This post is the second of three in a series on Preaching in a Secular Age. The previous post in this series examined Peter Berger's explanation for the progress of secularization in the Western world. In addition to Berger, Canadian philosopher C ...

January 23, 2017

“And Them that Mourn” — Celebrating Christmas in the Face of Sorrow

Families across the Christian world are gathering for Christmas even now, with caravans of cars and planeloads of passengers headed to hearth and home. Christmas comes once again, filled with the joy, expectation, and sentiment of the season. It is a ...

December 24, 2016

From One Reader to Another: Books to End a Year’s Reading, or to Bring in a New Year

Columnist Dave Barry got this one just right: "The problem with winter sports is that -- follow me closely here -- they generally take place in winter." On the other hand, winter is a great season for reading. Herewith I offer some books I think are ...

December 15, 2016

“I Loved Heresy…But the Holy Spirit Found Me” — Thomas C. Oden (1931-2016) and the Recovery of Christian Orthodoxy

Thomas C. Oden, one of the most gracious and respected theologians of our times, died yesterday at age 85. Professor Oden made the pilgrimage from theological liberalism, and what he acknowledged as an infatuation with heresy, all the way to the orth ...

December 9, 2016

His Winnowing Fork Is in His Hand

The Christian celebration of Christmas brings essential truths into clearer view. The central fact of the incarnation of the Son of God looms before us as the dividing line of all human history and the fulfillment of God's promises. Priests and proph ...

December 2, 2016

Thanksgiving as Theological Act: What Does it Mean to Give Thanks?

Thanksgiving is a deeply theological act, rightly understood. As a matter of fact, thankfulness is a theology in microcosm — a key to understanding what we really believe about God, ourselves, and the world we experience. A haunting question is th ...

November 23, 2016

For the Bible Tells Me So: Biblical Authority Denied … Again

"Jesus loves me -- this I know, for the Bible tells me so." This is a childish error? Evangelical Christianity has a big problem, says Andy Stanley, and that problem is a reliance on the Bible that is both unwarranted and unhelpful. In a recent me ...

September 26, 2016

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