By: rhbaker275 on February 7, 2014
The Christian church throughout history has been defined in the cultural context of each era in which she has existed. As we move deeper into the twenty-first century, the church must define herself in the context of a post-Christendom and a post-modern era. I believe those who are leaders realize the difficult task to equip…
By: Julie Dodge on February 7, 2014
In Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, [i] David W. Bebbington provides a tour through history of evangelicalism as it developed and evolved from the 1730’s through the mid 1970’s. Bebbington aligns the start of evangelicalism with the ministry of John Wesley and his contemporaries. He asserts that there are four elements that define evangelicalism, in spite…
By: Bill Dobrenen on February 7, 2014
I taught a course for a few years called “Religious Themes in American Culture.” This course caused students to think about the implications of the Christian faith in American cultural evolution. I talked often about the “Sacred/Secular Dance,” a concept that helped students see that the secular culture often has great impact on the Christian…
By: Sharenda Roam on February 6, 2014
Mind Your Mind Because Your Mind will Mind You! (care for) (obey) When did Evangelicals stop using their minds? How does one approach the aspects of Jesus Christ using an intellectual approach? These are two of the main questions Mark Noll asks in his books Scandal of the Evangelical Mind and Jesus Christ and the…
By: Sandy Bils on February 6, 2014
Since last summer I have the chance to teach a church planting course called “Fresh-X Der Kurs”, which is a training course to coach and support ordained and lay leaders when founding communities and planting churches. The course concepts follows the model of the so-called Mission Shaped Ministry courses, designed by the Fresh-Expressions movement of…
By: Fred Fay on February 6, 2014
Chelsie came to our church about two years ago. She came only to accompany her husband who had recently rededicated his life to Christ. She knew nothing of the Bible, had a few encounters with Christianity which she did not understand and was very cautious about people who call themselves Christians. She has a bright…
By: Garrick Roegner on February 6, 2014
Signs of Life It is hard to believe that Mark Noll’s groundbreaking shaming of evangelical culture, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, is now 10 years old. I first read it in 2000 at Dallas Theological and for many of my professors and classmates it was a clarion call. To be clear, Noll was not…
By: Ashley Goad on February 6, 2014
Every week in our church staff meeting, one member of the staff gives a devotion to center the group. This week, it was my turn. Let me be honest… I had forgotten it was my turn, and in user error, my iPhone neglected to remind me until 8:55am before the 9:00am staff meeting. I quickly…
By: Deve Persad on February 6, 2014
I have a confession to make before you continue on in reading. It may change your desire to read, it may even change your opinion of me. I’m willing to take that risk. Ready. Here it is: “I love math”. Math makes me happy. There is a long list of things that I am unable…
By: Chris Ellis on February 6, 2014
In the opening pages of Mark Noll’s, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, he writes, “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind” (3). Noll traces what happened to the evangelical mind through Luther to Calvin, to the Puritans, to C.S. Lewis and through the fundamentalist movement. …
By: Phil Smart on February 6, 2014
Those of us who live in Grand Rapids are fortunate. Many of the major religious publishing houses are located here. My daughter Lindsey, a journalism major, has been applying to the various publishers. The feeling she received from Zondervan Books was that they exist to sell. Money is the bottom line, so they prefer light…
By: Phil Smart on February 6, 2014
Christians love to think that the sky is falling or that the end is near. Every generation has their own doomsday calculations from the Bible about the end of times. This has become a favorite pastime and illustrates what Mark Noll says in Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind – “evangelicals treat the…
By: David Toth on February 5, 2014
Just last night, February 4, Ken Ham (the creationist guy) and Bill Nye (the science guy), faced off in a debate at the creation museum in Hebron, Kentucky that was streamed over the internet. The debate question was, “Is the creationist view of origins a viable view?” My guess is that the debate did not…
By: Miriam Mendez on February 5, 2014
As I began to read The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time I could not disregard our reading from last week, Collateral Damage. Both texts deal with issues that have tremendous impact on society and humanity. And both books challenge us to not just sit and wait for “the power of…
By: Bill Dobrenen on February 1, 2014
I was married in 1981 and was a successful youth pastor at a large church with 300 kids in my youth group. My wife was a teacher at the adjoining Christian school. We were the perfect Christian couple. But within a month we began to argue about our differences. Perhaps this is somewhat normal with…
By: Richard Rhoads on February 1, 2014
I was 21, wet behind the ears and serving in my first youth ministry. Not long into my tenure I met a young man by the name of Ian. Ian had just turned 16 and was moving from the Jr. High into the Senior High ministry. Now, for years I had heard stories about Ian,…
By: Sam Stephens on February 1, 2014
The Social Animal: Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement by David Brooks according to the author himself, “is an attempt to integrate science and psychology with sociology, politics, cultural commentary, and the literature of success”. Whether he succeeded in this attempt, it is hard to tell; but he certainly has tried hard and the…
By: Julie Dodge on February 1, 2014
I bought a new pair of glasses this week. I used to wear contact lenses almost all of the time, but as my eyes have aged, and with the reality of my really bad eye sight, I pretty much stick to the glasses. My plan was to buy a box of contacts (six lenses total)…
By: John Woodward on January 31, 2014
The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time by Karl Polanyi is in many respects Collateral Damage written seventy years earlier. This book for me was a huge education in basic economics that included history, politics and social theory, covering topics from the gold standard, the causes of WWII, and the transition…
By: Richard Volzke on January 31, 2014
Polanyi, in his book The Great Transformation, traces the evolution of social and economic transformation in the early 20th century. This book was written at the height of World War II and explains how the economic system moved to a market based system around the turn-of-the-century. Polanyi discussed that world’s economy moved away from the…
