By: Tim Clark on April 15, 2024
What an awesome, amazing, exhausting semester! Thank you, my dear cohort friends, for the courage to wrestle with the texts and with one another, and for the vulnerability of “showing up” even when not everyone agreed. Thank you for your encouragement, prayers, and support. I’m blessed to have been put in THIS cohort. Our time…
By: Esther Edwards on April 15, 2024
Six years ago, the staff at the school where I taught music was asked to read Brene Brown’s book, “Dare to Lead.” As a staff, we went through each chapter and shared all that we gleaned from the book. It was a rich time of discussion and insight. Our principal was so enamored by the…
By: Jennifer Vernam on April 15, 2024
In Dare to Lead[1] Brené Brown covers a wide range of challenges that leaders face to diagnose why they are hard and to give some quick strategies for mitigation. Some of my favorite areas were around combating shame with empathy and living into our values. Brown has made a very successful career by unpacking psychological…
By: Travis Vaughn on April 15, 2024
Brene Brown wrote Dare to Lead so that her readers would have a well-researched practical framework for “what it takes to be a daring leader” in their places of work.[1] I first heard the name “Brene Brown” maybe a decade or so ago. The term that comes to mind when I think about Dr. Brown’s…
By: Jeff Styer on April 15, 2024
I have been married for nearly twenty-six years and have four beautiful children. Just over thirteen years ago, I sat down and wrote out a vision. I started it As a follower of Christ Jesus, I want to have my family impact the world in a way that brings glory and honor to Christ, I…
By: Daron George on April 14, 2024
In his book, Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution, author Carl Trueman offers a deep dive into the historical and philosophical evolution of personal identity, particularly how it intersects with modern conceptions of sexuality. Trueman’s exploration is more than an academic exercise; it is an examination relevant…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on April 14, 2024
Have you ever wondered how things came to be? My children often ask me questions like, “Why do we trade money rather than candy? What makes money more valuable? Candy tastes better.” They have a point, candy definitely tastes better, but along the way as society developed so did our concept of trade and then…
By: Laura Fleetwood on April 14, 2024
In less than a generation, Western culture’s view of human gender identity and sexual preference has dramatically changed. In his 2022 book titled Strange New World, Professor Carl R. Trueman attempts to explain how and why this shift occurred through a philosophical, theological and historical lens. He also proposes a way for Christians to respond.[1]…
By: Chad McSwain on April 14, 2024
“No one ever asks me about my sex life.” I have quipped on more than one occasion at my church. Interesting conversation to be having at church, you might think. You would be right. This is a sign of the times, if you will. Sexuality is a topic of conversation in the denomination I serve,…
By: Tonette Kellett on April 14, 2024
Introduction Our readings this week were two-fold by Carl Trueman. The first book I read through was The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution. [1] This was an exhaustive look at the sexual revolution, going back not merely to the 1960s but over two hundred…
By: Mathieu Yuill on April 14, 2024
In Toronto, Canada, a pastor with a compelling backstory and distinctive style—tattoos visible and all—captured the hearts and minds of many by founding The Meeting House. This church, initially gathering in cinemas, represented a fresh expression of faith, resonant particularly with those disenchanted with traditional forms of worship. The pastor, known for his relatable sermons…
By: Michael O'Neill on April 14, 2024
I love learning a new word. My family and I often enjoy sharing new words we’ve learned, although I find it much more challenging than they (my mom and wife) do to weave them into my everyday conversations. I often write them down (I have pages of Dr. Clark’s ‘one-liners’) or highlight them in books.…
By: Akwese on April 14, 2024
We live in a hyper-politicized society where one can readily see the world’s brokenness on multiple levels. This has often birthed arguments fueled by anger and grief, causing many to lash out at/demonize one another or avoid engaging in the sociopolitical arena altogether. However, rather than start a yelling match or excuse ourselves from the…
By: Joel Zantingh on April 13, 2024
When Christians equate evangelism with undermining cultural ideologies, it can quickly become white noise and easy to dismiss. In my work in the Canadian context, this distortion of evangelism that leads to less positive engagement, and more pushback even from within a marginalized Christian community. In September, 2021, Alpha Canada held a “Life Shared Summit”…
By: Audrey Robinson on April 13, 2024
Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution by Carl R. Trueman explores how some progressive thinkers were trailblazers and paved the way for the sexual revolution we are experiencing today. Trueman reflectively considers the ideas of Descartes and Rosseau, Marx and Nietzsche, Freud, and Wilhelm Reich, even though…
By: Caleb Lu on April 12, 2024
At the heart of his book, Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution, Carl Trueman explores the effect expressive individualism has on modern society, especially in regards to the sexual revolution, and seeks to trace how its influence became ubiquitous.[1] His hope seems noble. He doesn’t seek to…
By: Laura Fleetwood on April 12, 2024
In the book, Dominion, author and historian, Tom Holland, takes his reader on an adventurous journey through the past to expose how Christianity has impacted the moral fiber of the Western world despite popular attempts to extinguish it. From Antiquity through Christendom to Modernitas[1], Holland provides vignettes of people and cultures that followed Christ’s call…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on April 12, 2024
Carl Trueman’s book Strange New World & The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, must be one of those books that I will love to read and spend much time on in the future. After Dominion with Tom Holland last week, one will agree that these books are excellent and have the potential to…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on April 11, 2024
“Today’s world has reached a state which, if it had been described to preceding centuries, would have called forth the cry: ‘This is the Apolcalpyse!’ Yet we have grown used to this kind of world; we even feel at home in it.”[1] Trueman’s Works Carl Trueman, in his book, The Rise and Triumph of the…
By: Jana Dluehosh on April 11, 2024
I have mentioned in the past that I am a PK, my grandpa was a pastor, my uncle was a pastor, my brother-in-law is a pastor and sister a pastor now, my husband and I were pastors. I have put a lot of thought into pastoral families, and while reading J.R. Woodward’s book The Scandal…
