On Writing
I suppose I’ve been writing in a serious way for a dozen years. I’m not considering the occasional article during college or the many research papers I had to write in high school or college. After all, everyone writes—if only to make the grade. Even the shorter little pieces for a local newspaper or denominational publication were, more than anything, testing the waters: Can I write anything that’s worth reading? The jury is...
When Even Our Heroes Are Flawed
Few things are more discouraging than learning that one of your heroes had significant flaws, erred theologically, or committed grievous sin. Even when your heroes are historical figures, making such a discovery can leave you feeling disoriented and potentially unsure about the otherwise valuable contributions that person made. “If my hero did this or thought that,” we might ask, “then does it discredit all of the other things I love...
Book Reflection: The Making of Stanley Hauerwas
Recently I read The Making of Stanley Hauerwas, a book adapted from David Hunsicker’s doctoral dissertation. Hunsicker is a Presbyterian minister in Alabama and former theology professor. Published dissertations usually aren’t a type of reading material that gets me very excited, but the subject matter of this one intrigued me. For the last thirty years, Stanley Hauerwas has been among the most discussed and debated theologians in the...
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...
Pining for the Glory Days: A Review of Randall Balmer’s Evangelicalism in America
by Joshua R. Colson The term evangelicalism means many things to many people. In contemporary usage, the term often refers to a bloc of white, conservative Christian voters. Indeed, pundits and pollsters regularly identify evangelicals with the Republican Party, free markets, and politically conservative causes. The identification of evangelicals with the Republican Party is apparently justified by the fact that eighty-one percent of...
Recommended Books (Spring 2020)
What an odd spring we have all had! Amid all the clamor about viruses and social distancing, one of the unintended benefits of quarantine has been increased free time (at least for some of us). Let’s not waste such a moment with insipid social media scrolling, binge-watching old (or new) television series, or shallow reading (what Charlotte Mason referred to as twaddle). Instead, we should steward this moment well with good books and...
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