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Orthodox at Heart: A Personal Reflection on the Church in Russia (Guest Post)
Read more: Orthodox at Heart: A Personal Reflection on the Church in Russia (Guest Post)Almost two years ago, I married a citizen of the Russian Federation; a daughter of Lenin’s dream for the Russian people—the Soviet Union. Upon learning that I would be living in Russia for an extended period, my knee-jerk reaction was to find an English speaking, Reformed congregation that resembled mine in the states. To be…
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I Hate the Church but Love Jesus
Read more: I Hate the Church but Love JesusI HATE the church, but I LOVE Jesus I hear this so much. Stay with me, I’m probably going to get a little offensive. This strange separation of faith and community is all over the place. I have gone to the same church my entire life. It isn’t a perfect church, but it’s the family…
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Harry Potter Conference: A Review
Read more: Harry Potter Conference: A ReviewLast week was the first Conference engaging with the Harry Potter series at a high academic level. We know, hard to believe huh?! Well, yours truly from The Two Cities, John Anthony Dunne and Nathaniel Warne, were among the lucky few selected to give papers at this landmark event. The topics covered at the conference…
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Should I Have a Baby
Read more: Should I Have a BabyOne of the clients that I work with on a regular basis is autistic. This is a curse and a blessing. The curse is that for him, life is difficult. He can’t relate to other people in a typical fashion and this fact makes it hard to develop a relationship with him. The blessing is…
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Purge Weekend: Fighting Materialism in My Heart and House
Read more: Purge Weekend: Fighting Materialism in My Heart and HouseIn the past three years, I have moved three times. Each time I call upon the great physical strength of my friends – an area I am decidedly lacking in – and then offer them pizza. They don’t care about the pizza; it’s just a gesture. As we lug all of mine and my wife’s…
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Jesus: The First Social Worker (Guest Post)
Read more: Jesus: The First Social Worker (Guest Post)Since the beginning of time this world has been dealing with sin and its consequences. Adam and Eve’s fall in the garden leads to many consequences – setting us up for a lifetime of relationship struggles that was not in God’s original plan. As life plays out we watch and see disastrous things start to…
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Whitney: The Good, The Bad & The Gospel
Read more: Whitney: The Good, The Bad & The GospelOn Saturday, celebrated singer Whitney Houston was found dead in her Beverly Hilton hotel room—her body submerged in bathwater, bottles of prescription pills close by. The story is still developing, and like many celebrity death tales, will probably remain steeped in scandal and speculation. In the meantime, there are some theological takeaways. Death has a…
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Secular Christmas
Read more: Secular ChristmasThe concept is bizarre when you stop and think about it. Let’s take a couple of days off of work at one of the busiest times of the year. We’ll time our school calendars so that the semester break occurs during the holiday. For the month preceding the holiday, houses and storefronts will be decorated…
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The Macho Version of Biblical MANhood
Read more: The Macho Version of Biblical MANhoodSo far on this blog we’ve had some discussion led by Ryan about how the biblical manhood movement (mis)uses statistical cultural analysis when applying it to the Church (For the relevant posts in the 6-part series: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6). I do not intend here to pick up the discussion further, or to…
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Journeying with Jobs: Finding Biblical Encouragements from the Life of a Legend
Read more: Journeying with Jobs: Finding Biblical Encouragements from the Life of a LegendOn October 5th, the world has begun to mourn the loss of one of its most creative innovators, tenacious entrepreneurs, and iconic figureheads in the passing of Steve Jobs. From the petri-dish of creativity that was a silicon valley garage, Jobs constructed a company that competes with Exxon-Mobil for the largest market capitalization. Obama has…