Pastoral Care to Persons with Suicidal Ideations
I suspect that, for the vast majority of people, trauma and mental illness go unattended and unprocessed.[1] Some recent talk has occurred about mental illness and the need to reach out to those dealing with this issue, but still these struggles are mostly kept secret. We face a problem where suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 123...
Overthrowing the Serpent: Gregory of Nazianzus & Philanthropy
Christian philanthropy is no modern Christian invention or conviction. For early church theologian Gregory of Nazianzus (329/30–390/91), the eternal welfare of one’s body and soul hinges upon one’s loving care for the poor and oppressed.[1] Gregory is convinced that loving care for another’s physical needs, be they paupers or lepers, is a binding obligation on the believer. A failure to care for the oppressed is to have lost “sight of...
Assessing the Arts
Essay by Alexandra Harper with W. Jackson Watts Walking through an art gallery can be an intimidating experience. It is not due to a distaste for art that this feeling necessarily arises, but because we simply don’t understand it. For one, art education sits so low on our society’s totem pole of educational priorities. When school budgets are cut, art and music are often the first areas eliminated. Yet for Christians today the issue...
On Personal Liberty
The most basic right that persons possess is the right to personal liberty. This simply means that people are able to accomplish that which they will, without undue hindrance or obstacle. Yet through the course of history, persons through government have attempted to usurp this right. As a result, the United States of America has sought to protect it since her inception. And although America’s protection of this right is important, it...
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