By: Mary Pandiani on April 22, 2015
With silver hair and a voice that wavered, Sister Margaret seemed really old to me as a young college graduate. It’s only been all these years later, many since she passed away, that I now recognize how her age didn’t take away from the value of her faithful presence as a leader in the community.…
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: Travis Biglow on April 21, 2015
Obligation to others is an Art of Leadership April 21, 15 Max De Pree has done a masterful job in defining leadership qualities in Leadership is an Art. He comes off more like a preacher who is dedicated to people and not things. I admired his passion for those who worked in his company. He…
By: Dave Young on April 21, 2015
As I read through Leadership is an Art I became engaged with the undertone of the book—the author’s “voice,” their passion. Max De Pree is presenting the theme of what I’d call other-centered leadership. The employees are his passion: their involvement, gifting, participation, and success. In such a practical, helpful book there are dozens of…
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: Travis Biglow on April 18, 2015
Faithful Living in a Changing World April 17, 15 As I get older and older the ability to remain faithful to God is always a challenge. It takes a lot to stand up in society now and stand on the word of God. In To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity…
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: Jon Spellman on April 17, 2015
“Let us assume the best of intentions. Christians today— of whatever stripe— sincerely want to engage the world for good. As we have seen, though, Christians have embraced strategies that are, by design, incapable of bringing about the ends to which they aspire.”1 This statement gives voice to a nagging concern I have had a…
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: Dawnel Volzke on April 17, 2015
“To be Christian is to be obliged to engage the world, pursuing God’s restorative purposes over all of life, individual and corporate, public and private. This is the mandate of creation.”[1] How to change the word is a question that man has been trying to answer since the time of Adam and Eve. Hunter, in…
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: Mary Pandiani on April 16, 2015
Early on in our DMin program, Jason proclaimed that we would become better critical thinkers. As critical thinkers, we have the capacity to understand the obvious and nuances that books, lectures, sermons, and research provide us. James Davison Hunter’s book To Change the World, ironic and provocative at the same time, speaks to thinking more…
