The problem of evil is older than the book of Job. And for many people, it’s the biggest reason that faith in God is difficult – or even impossible. It leaves them asking questions like… How can a good God allow so much pain and suffering? Why doesn’t he stop injustice before it happens? Where […]

The word ‘pastor’ means many things to many people. For some, it’s the one who gets up on Sunday morning, opens the Bible, and proclaims the gospel. For others, it’s the one who quietly enters the hospital room and prays for healing. Still others think of a beloved mentor… or a faithful Bible teacher… or […]

The Problem with Interpreting Revelation “Interpreting Revelation is just impossible. We’re not meant to understand it and it’s not practical.” “There are too many different views – and I don’t want to run anybody off if they disagree with me.” “I consider myself a panmillennialist – I don’t bother much with Revelation because it’ll pan […]

Introducing ‘Desiring the Kingdom’ and James Smith’s ‘Cultural Liturgies’ Series Warning: this is going to be a long discussion/review of Desiring the Kingdom by James Smith. I apologize in advance for venturing a bit into the weeds… it just offers a lot to chew on. According to ‘Desiring the Kingdom’, the first book in James […]

I enrolled in a philosophy class during my freshman year of college. The teacher was everything you’d expect from a college philosophy professor – a button-up shirt with one too many buttons undone, soft curls that fell down to his shoulders, a tendency to answer questions with questions. I dropped it after the first meeting. […]

In ‘For the Life of the World’, a contemporary Orthodox classic, Fr Alexander Schmemann sets out to “remind its readers that in Christ, life – life in all its totality – was returned to man, given again as sacrament and communion, made Eucharist. And it is to show – be it only partially and superficially […]

Even with all the warnings, sometimes you judge a book by its cover. I know I did when I first came across Mark Jackson’s ‘A Closer Look at God’s Church.’ It’s not that there was anything wrong with the cover. I just made some assumptions based on the subtitle: “A Biblical evaluation of key beliefs […]

Thomas Nagel isn’t like most atheists. And it’s not just because he has serious doubts about Neo-Darwinism’s ability to explain the complexity of life on planet earth (though that certainly makes him something of an outlier). It’s his contention that materialism (the idea that matter is all there is) fails as an explanation for some […]

One of the first books I remember buying after I began following Jesus was Josh McDowell’s massive tome, ‘The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict.’ It was a 750-page Christian apologetics guide that covered everything from the reliability of the Old Testament to the evidence for the resurrection. And I devoured it – cover to […]

I read Dallas Willard’s biography two years ago and it left me astounded. His way of viewing God, the world, and how the two collide challenged me to think more deeply about my own spiritual life than I had in years. And I honestly couldn’t believe that I had never read any of his other […]