By: Sean Dean on March 19, 2020
In his book Identity Francis Fukuyama argues that much of the recent shift in politics in the world is a result of people feeling that they are not getting a proper amount of respect or that they feel invisible or humiliated by the world as they understand it. These two motivations have led to the…
By: Andrea Lathrop on March 19, 2020
Francis Fukuyama’s Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment was a challenging assignment, given the situation the world is facing. I believe his premise has merit and is worth our attention but attention has been a scarce commodity. What a couple of weeks it has been. My fifteen year-old daughter realized and…
By: Steve Wingate on March 19, 2020
Reflecting on these two texts, I am focused upon the term ‘Ezer Kenegdo.’[1] The word Ezer Kenegdo is an old Hebrew term, but the purpose of discussion essentially means a strong warrior, a complimentary partner with the other half of the adam. I love the word complementary. Complementary is what one is and doing if they…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on March 18, 2020
Continuing our semester study of the intersection between cultural movements and personal identity, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment by Stanford Professor Francis Fukuyama is a tour de force of the history and current reality of identity politics. The universal desire for recognition of one’s identity is a master concept that…
By: John McLarty on March 18, 2020
What do we do when the historic interpretation of a passage (or two) of Scripture does harm? Certainly a multitude of faithful Christ-followers in every expression of Christianity, and as well as those who never really gave Jesus a chance, have been bruised, broken, and bloodied by the teachings of the Church. The Bible has…
By: Greg Reich on March 18, 2020
The date was around 1990. The place Lake Tapps Christian Church. My position was an unpaid Associate Pastor in a small growing church plant. The issue being discussed in our meeting was installing elders for the first time and whether we should consider a woman who was active in the church desiring to be an…
By: Shawn Cramer on March 17, 2020
Paradox An innovation theory meta-paradox currently reigns: while innovation theory proclaims creativity is often developed on the fringes, innovation theory is still dominated by white men both through its praised exemplars (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg) and theorists (Buchanan, Brown, Kelley, Rogers and other names unique to that circle). I want to be sure…
By: Darcy Hansen on March 16, 2020
The COVID-19 virus is spreading over the globe. It began in China and has migrated and infected people in numerous countries. “There have already been 174,000 cases and 6,700 deaths worldwide.”[1] Fear and panic has also infected communities through digital media outlets highlighting stock market corrections, health-care system overloads, and supply chain challenges. People are…
By: Jer Swigart on March 16, 2020
I had just arrived at the dinner table this evening, having finished up my reading of Katia Adams’ Equal and Lucy Peppiatt’s Rediscovering Scripture’s Vision for Women. Both are remarkable works that, through careful exegesis, conclude that women and men are uniquely suited for equal roles of leadership and authority in the life of the…
By: John Muhanji on March 16, 2020
Growing up in a family that was the first generation of Christian converts after the missionaries arrived in the Eastern part of Africa. We grew up with the do and don’ts principle of Christianity. We had good and bad morals. Bad morals were punishable by God, and that was a sin. We have grown up…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on March 16, 2020
Sorry so late this week. It’s been a week of reflection and trepidation for me, so I am on tenuous ground. It’s a topsy-turvy world out there and trying to navigate these waters is both confusing and disheartening. I have additional fears with regards to this coronavirus situation, because all my kids are in the…
By: Shermika Harvey on March 16, 2020
Just as plants need sun, water, and good soil to thrive, people need love, work, and connection to something larger. That something larger might take various forms, but a sense of connection to God is it’s most visceral incarnation. And that kind of connectivity is hard to replicate. [1] Times are changing. People are no…
By: Harry Fritzenschaft on March 15, 2020
It was challenging to find a non-Christian review of McLaughlin’s Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion. While I did not do an exhaustive search, I landed upon Mark Ward’s review. Ward initially approached McLaughlin’s work, thinking it was written from a non-Christian perspective. He quickly became impressed with her grounded (an…
By: Digby Wilkinson on March 15, 2020
An important opening question. Did you know that Corona Beer sales have dropped by 55% in the United States? In New Zealand, sales are up for the same brew because some of us see it as a temporary vaccine to the virus of the same name. It’s a great theory and we are sticking to…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on March 14, 2020
(*Disclaimer: COVID-19 consumed my week with work causing this post to be late and not as well developed as I would like.) Observing white Evangelicalism in America for several decades I’m curious as to what causes many in this group to become fierce activists on two main topics while seemingly turning their heads away from…
By: Wallace Kamau on March 14, 2020
When the deal seems “too good to be true, be cautious” is a common warning used which is meant to help you be more vigilant and diligent before committing yourself. In formal management, it has been christened ‘Due Diligence’ which is a diligent, thorough and a deeper scrutiny of things or a matter, to be…
By: Rhonda Davis on March 14, 2020
I began reading Confronting Christianity at the start of a Spring Break trip with my family this week. I was excited for this hopeful, accessible book after several weeks of heavy, difficult reading. However, little did I know, I would be spending a large share of this week in hours of video chats, conference calls,…
By: Sean Dean on March 13, 2020
I am going to admit right up front that I did not read this week’s book. My life has been consumed by the virus. Thankfully no one in my family has contracted it yet, but pretty much every other part of our lives have been disrupted by it. If you are not aware, western Washington…
By: Karen Rouggly on March 12, 2020
“Perhaps the key to facing suffering is not detachment and removal, but meaning and love. Nonattachment may shield us from suffering. To love is to be vulnerable. To desire and strive is to risk disappointment. But has Haidt notes, non-attachment also deprives us of our greatest joys. Striving, desire, and deep attachment can lead us…
By: Jenn Burnett on March 12, 2020
Identity is both a now and a not yet. It is an unfolding narrative rather than a fixed entity. “[A] coherent, well-integrated sense of identity provides a frame of reference for dealing with questions about the meaning, purpose, and direction of one’s life.”[1] But the question of how that identity is determined and in particular…
