Reading my friend Beth Allison Barr’s response to 9Marks editor Jonathan Leeman this morning at The Anxious Bench, I found it hard to avoid her conclusion: Complementarianism is a small world. But Christianity is a big world, far more diverse, complicated, and interesting than what you’ll find in the center of the Venn diagram where … More It’s a Big, Big Christian World
This week I considered the problem of evangelical catechesis, reflected on the length of biographies, and reported on the Anabaptist round of the Following Jesus conversation. Elsewhere: • The history of the American Civil War led Dan Williams to wonder “why, despite abundant historical and contemporary evidence that biblical interpretations vary widely, does the Bible continue … More That Was The Week That Was
“I’ve never quite been persuaded that the Anabaptist way of following Jesus is the right one,” I wrote in my response to this month’s lead essay in the Following Jesus conversation, “but it always leaves me feeling like my own way is to follow the path of compromise and safety.” So I’m grateful to Michael … More Following Jesus: The Anabaptist Tradition
Today marks the three-month anniversary of Charles Lindbergh: A Religious Biography of America’s Most Infamous Pilot releasing to the public. I’ve published enough books to know that this is almost always an awkward moment for authors. Three months into publication, it’s not just that the initial excitement is long forgotten in the midst of the … More Why I Wrote a Short Biography
This week I looked at the religious biography of a Minnesotan who was known for technological innovation and died on Hawaii. Not Charles Lindbergh, but Medtronic founder Earl Bakken. Elsewhere: • For Reformation Day, a Lutheran meditation on the importance of singing in church. • Two years after Rachel Held Evans died, her last book is coming … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I reported on my adult Sunday School class about evangelicalism and checked in on how Lutherans follow Jesus, while a couple of student journalists at Bethel wrote about me and my new book… which was reviewed in Front Porch Republic and the Portland (ME) Press Herald. Elsewhere: • If you’re not already reading … More That Was The Week That Was
As a Pietist who now worships within a Lutheran congregation, I’ve been eagerly awaiting this month’s installment of our year-long, ecumenical conversation about Following Jesus. Church historian Mark Ellingsen didn’t disappoint, offering a reflection on what he called Lutheranism’s “Evangelical Catholic” way of following Jesus. At least, that’s how he saw his more “confessional” branch … More Following Jesus: The Lutheran Tradition
This week I questioned my own skepticism about miraculous healing. Elsewhere: • Half of the country’s Christian congregations have 65 or fewer attenders — half what the attendance level was at the start of the century. • Meanwhile, not quite half of Americans have watched church online during the COVID pandemic — and one-third of them don’t normally … More That Was The Week That Was
Our sports podcast, The 252, returned to today with a new episode that looked back, at what’s happened since our Tokyo Olympics preview, and ahead, to the coming NBA season. In segment one, Chris, Sam, and I reviewed some favorite Olympic events and talked about what to expect in Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024. We … More Tuesday’s Podcast: The Ministry of an NBA Chaplain
With the COVID pandemic lingering longer than anyone had hoped, I haven’t had many chances to give talks about my newest book. So it was wonderful to speak about Charles Lindbergh in Bethel’s library last month. We had a good turnout, but in case you couldn’t be there — or able to Zoom in live … More The Education of Charles Lindbergh
The Pietist Schoolman 