By: Jennifer Eckert on September 17, 2025
The parable of the Prodigal Son is a well-known demonstration of God’s radical forgiveness. This father–son story charts the course of the son’s greed, his self-reflection, and eventual shame and repentance. Yet the father, mirroring our heavenly Father, runs to him with extended arms, offering unconditional love and restoration.[1] In this story, forgiveness is generous,…
By: Kari on September 17, 2025
“Oh, you live in Africa? Do you know so-and-so? They live in South Africa, too.” I do not live in South Africa. I have never even visited. Yet, you may be surprised to learn how many Americans think Africa is one big country—South Africa. Geography clearly is not their strength! For years, I have been…
By: Elysse Burns on September 17, 2025
Although I wasn’t able to access Patti Waldmeir’s Anatomy of a Miracle, I’ve focused instead on Alec Russell’s Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa from Mandela to Zuma, along with a personal choice, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela’s A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy…
By: Graham English on September 17, 2025
With Dr. Clark’s permission, I read Bring Me My Machine Gun (After Apartheid) by Alec Russell and Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog When I read Bring Me My Machine Gun by Alec Russell and Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog, in preparation for the Cape Town Advance, I found myself not only…
By: Jeff Styer on September 16, 2025
Historical Fear Anxiety, worry, and fear, these are concepts presented in the Scriptures over 100 times.[1] Microsoft Copilot states that the phrase Fear Not appears 71 times, 57 Old Testament, 14 New Testament.[2] They are normal human emotions, however when they reach certain levels the “reptilian brain takes over.”[3] Edwin Friedman suggests that during this…
By: Glyn Barrett on September 15, 2025
I first became aware of the word “apartheid” in 1989, at an open day at Sheffield University, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK. The student union building bore the name “The Nelson Mandela Building,” a defiant act of protest against South Africa’s system of racial segregation. I didn’t fully understand the politics at the time, but the…
By: Adam Cheney on September 15, 2025
My first trip to South Africa was not to Cape Town or Johannesburg but to Bloemfontein, a city near the border of Lesotho, where I had been visiting. Some in our group needed to make a visa run, and we also needed supplies unavailable in Lesotho. It was 2013, and what I encountered there shocked…
By: Debbie Owen on September 15, 2025
What apartheid South Africa can teach us about America’s fractures—and the miracle of turning toward love The assassination of Charlie Kirk is more than one man’s tragic death; it is a mirror held up to our nation’s unraveling. His assassination is horrific and inexcusable. Full stop. And…I thought his message was more than just controversial.…
By: Joel Zantingh on September 12, 2025
The past few years have seen a rise in Christian Nationalism [1], which works off of the premise that society, especially the secular West is antagonistic to the Gospel. There is something that has been lost or abandoned, and we must do all we can to reclaim it. Tom Holland, in Dominion, joins other theorists…
By: Noel Liemam on September 11, 2025
Tom Holland, in his writings of the book, “Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World,’ argued that is a major force behind the shaping of the Western civilization – both in the religious institution and the within the cultural setting as well. He argued that the Western thinking is deeply affected by Christian values.…
By: Chad Warren on September 11, 2025
In To Kill a Mockingbird[1], Atticus Finch stands in a courtroom in a small Southern town, defending a man society has already judged guilty. His arguments are not just legal—they are moral. He appeals to fairness, compassion, and the dignity of every human being, even when the world around him resists. What makes this so…
By: Daren Jaime on September 11, 2025
Tom Holland’s Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World is a deep historical narrative, tracing how Christianity transformed Western civilization and beyond.If one can get past its intimidating page count, Dominion is a challenge to readers to recognize Christianity’s lasting influence on how the world understands power and meaning. Holland presents a very clear…
By: Diane Tuttle on September 11, 2025
Have you ever felt that you wanted to completely consume a book, lingering over pages, soaking in the lessons, and generally just wanting to absorb everything in it? That is where I am with Dominion by Tom Holland. I like history and this book has lots of it with added depth as Holland provides copious…
By: Elysse Burns on September 11, 2025
Some of the most meaningful lessons I’ve learned about compassion and justice have come from my cousin, who is a committed atheist. Over the years, we’ve had many conversations about what it means to care for others and act with kindness. In one discussion, I found myself saying, “You would make a very strong Christian.”…
By: Ryan Thorson on September 11, 2025
“The very word ‘cross’ should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his thoughts, his eyes, and his ears.”-(Cicero, Pro Rabirio Perduellionis Reo 16) “Everything about the practice of nailing a man to a cross – a ‘crux’ – was repellent… It was this disgust that crucifixion uniquely…
By: Kari on September 11, 2025
“Wow! You have the nerve to propose a job in which you will work yourself out of a job?” my friend jokingly asked me. I laughed and responded, “That’s exactly my goal!” I had just finished giving my counterproposal to the medical director at the hospital. This coming Saturday, I will present this counterproposal to…
By: Jennifer Eckert on September 11, 2025
A beloved former member of the OKC Thunder, Russell Westbrook proudly holds the NBA record with 198 triple-doubles in his career. But for many local children and families, his most significant impact wasn’t in the arena; it was in the education scholarships he awarded, the community centers he revitalized, and programs he funded for kids…
By: Graham English on September 11, 2025
That a slave, ‘a slight, frail, despised woman’, might be set among the elite of heaven, seated directly within the splendour of God’s radiant palace, ahead of those who in the fallen world had been her immeasurable superiors, was a potent illustration of the mystery that lay at the heart of the Christian faith.[1] In…
By: Shela Sullivan on September 10, 2025
Introduction Even the most secular ideals of the modern West, human rights, equality, and liberalism—carry the fingerprints of ancient Christian revolution. At its core, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind by Tom Holland argues that these values are deeply rooted in Christian thought, whether we recognize it or not.[1] Holland explores how Christianity’s moral…
By: Debbie Owen on September 10, 2025
The cross is one of the most ubiquitous symbols in the world. People wear it on necklaces, ink it into their skin, raise it on steeples and mountains, and stitch it into clothing and flags. It’s so familiar, we hardly see it anymore. Though it offers the idea of hope today, the cross was not…
