By: Deve Persad on April 23, 2015
It shouldn’t surprise yet somehow it always does. As familiar as our trips to El Salvador should be the Lord always has something new for us to discover. This time it was a conversation with the person beside me on the airplane. I had just put the book I was reading in the magazine rack…
By: Bill Dobrenen on April 23, 2015
Does God talk to us? If so, how? And what does he say? Is prayer a one-way conversation or a two-way one? These are some of the questions our week’s reading tries to address. So how does it do? I think it depends on whom you ask. When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical…
By: Michael Badriaki on April 22, 2015
Tanya M. Luhrmann writes about the nature of American evangelical spirituality in her book “WHEN GOD TALKS BACK Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God” with the nondenominational Vineyard evangelical church as the study sample space. Luhrmann an anthropologist, approaches are study from a scientific place which means she will be rational in her presentation…
By: Ashley Goad on April 21, 2015
Tanya Luhrmann explores two significant questions in her book When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God: (1) How does God become and remain real for modern evangelicals?; and (2) How are rational, practical people of faith able to experience the presence of a powerful yet invisible being and sustain that belief…
By: John Woodward on April 21, 2015
“The vengeance with which religious issues have again entered the public arena illustrates what pollsters long have known: the United States contains more citizens who value religion than other western industrial societies. This odd combination of modernity and religion defies conventional wisdom, which suggests that secularity and socioeconomic development are positively related. Such manifest religiosity…
By: Miriam Mendez on April 19, 2015
There are words that can create fear and misconceptions. Theology is one of those words. Some people associate the word “theology” with superior intellectuals, institutions, and long and dry debates that only lead to arguments and disagreements. Yet, theology is about the study of God and God’s relation to the world. In a practical way,…
By: Richard Volzke on April 18, 2015
I must honestly admit that when it comes to the philosophical side of Christianity, I sometimes have trouble contemplating and fitting it into my Christian context. This being said, I did find chapter 38, “The Devil and All His Works”, intriguing. Raeper and Edwards explore the way that modern culture views Satan. The authors state…
By: Stefania Tarasut on April 18, 2015
Reading through this week’s book, A Brief Guide To Ideas By Raeper and Edwards I was reminded of two things. First, it left me in awe of God’s sovereignty. This book is a brief walk through the history of thought from the Ancient Greeks to today. This walk left me in awe in the sense…
By: Bill Dobrenen on April 18, 2015
I teach a class called Faith, Living, and Learning. One of the assignments in the class is called “The Big Questions.” It is an assignment that includes both a team presentation and an individual paper. The teams (usually groups of four or five students) are to come up with what they think are important questions…
By: rhbaker275 on April 17, 2015
I was somewhat captivated by the answer to the question raised by the publisher in the abstract to A Brief Guide to Ideas by William Raeper and Linda Smith. The question is simple enough, “Philosophy—Dry and remote?”[1] It is obviously a rhetorical question; after all, there is the expectation that the answer is, “Yes! Philosophy…
By: Michael Badriaki on April 17, 2015
While visiting the beautiful city in Oregon, I was asked to address the above question. My answer is YES! The gospel works when people experience the power of the love of Christ and redemption (Romans 1:16). The pastor and friend with whom I was serving has been teaching his congregation through a particular book in…
By: Julie Dodge on April 17, 2015
All semester I have been looking at this book, sitting on my shelf, thinking to myself, “That looks like fun.” In just writing that, I confess that there is a bit of a nerd in my soul. (And there I just used that word “soul”. What is the soul anyway? But I digress …) Raeper…
By: Telile Fikru Badecha on April 17, 2015
A couple years ago, I attended a baptism ceremony of twelve new believers who came to follow Jesus through our ministry in my country. These new believers attended confirmation class for a month at their new local faith community and were excited to celebrate their baptism. However, before their baptism takes place, the preacher shared…
By: Carol McLaughlin on April 17, 2015
Have you ever gone to a movie based upon the title only to discover the title doesn’t quite match what you thought you would be seeing? Have you ever picked up a novel based on the cover design only to discover the story exceeded your anticipation? Have you ever been intrigued with ideas, where they…
By: Mitch Arbelaez on April 16, 2015
To think is to reflect, contemplate and then assimilate those reflections and contemplations into some form or fashion of an idea. Yet It seems to me that the average man or woman does not take the time to think, reflect, or contemplate much of anything. I have passed by restaurant tables (and circles in the church…
By: Ashley Goad on April 16, 2015
I love questions. I ask questions all the time. Whether it’s with my best friend, or with the pastor next-door, or if we’re on a mission trip, I always have a bag full of questions. I ask questions about favorite vacations, or the time you did something you never thought you’d do, or maybe the…
By: Deve Persad on April 16, 2015
“What is truth?” that was the sharp reply given by Pilate, the highest authority in the city, to the prisoner that stood before him, Jesus. Pilate’s inner dilemma and outward declaration reveals a battleground that continues to this day (John 18:28-19:22). In the words of William Raeper and Linda Edwards in their book, A Brief…
By: Liz Linssen on April 16, 2015
“Knowing God is not like knowing an object in the world and so, to know God, human beings have to go beyond the rational through a ‘leap of faith’ into believing something objectively uncertain.” [i] Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Kant, Sartre, Aquinas and many other great men have all spent their lives pondering the great philosophical questions…
By: John Woodward on April 16, 2015
I heard an ad on NPR the other day that confused me. It began by asking if you were tired of all the politics and opinions that you hear on the radio. If so, they had the cure: Listen to Science Friday where, for one hour a week, you could listen to “facts.” Science, they…
By: Carol McLaughlin on April 12, 2015
I’d like to introduce you to my friend. So begins the right of introduction. Depending upon the circumstances and situation a handshake may be exchanged; depending upon the culture the handshake may be replaced with a bow. Names become known and inferably the question is asked, “What do you do?” This is not only a…
