The Path to Human Happiness: Fear God and Keep His Commandments
Life can be incredibly fun and meaningful, and it can be incredibly hard and frustrating. Sometimes we feel great, and sometimes we feel deeply discouraged. Sometimes we believe we make a difference, and sometimes we wonder whether we matter at all. In many ways, such conflicting feelings describe the human condition. In this article, I reflect on the interplay of these ideas in the book of Ecclesiastes. On one hand, the Teacher, the...
Recommended Books (Spring 2024)
Setting plans for your summer vacation, and need some good reads to take with you? Weary of reading the same old genre for work or school? We would like to recommend some fresh options for you from our recent reading. Some of our latest favorite reads were just published, while others are hundreds of years old. Regardless, we think you will find something of benefit here. Below, you will find reading suggestions from our group that...
Saturday Night Sinnin’, Sunday Morning Salvation: The Life and Legacy of Johnny Cash
by Daniel Mann One of Johnny Cash’s closest friends referred to him as a “walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,” and a cursory exploration of his life proves this statement.[1] Cash spent his early years as a son and soldier before embarking on a musical career as a performer and poet. Off stage, he was an addict and adulterer while seeking to maintain his religious persona as a Christian. No wonder his only son...
Light and Heat: A Balance for Ministry
I have had the privilege over the past decade to serve in ministerial and academic roles. Prior to becoming a college instructor, I was a full-time youth and family pastor. In 2014, I was hired at Welch College to lead their program in Youth and Family Ministry. Shortly thereafter, I became the Campus Pastor at Welch and began serving my local congregation in a part-time position as their youth and family pastor. To be on both sides...
Church-State Religious Accommodation: Reflections on Groff v. DeJoy
The coming months will bring attention to the biggest cases the Supreme Court is hearing this term, including issues like abortion, Chevron deference, consumer protection, Donald Trump, gerrymandering, guns (bump stock), social media, and more. As we prepare for the holdings on these cases, I thought it would be good to reflect on an important decision from last summer: Groff v. DeJoy. Groff did not receive as much attention as the...
The Genesis of Gender: A Review
“I feel like I’ve been giving my students poison to drink,” said Abigail Favale to a fellow professor as she reflected on years of teaching gender theory to college students.[1] “For so many years,” she confessed, “I’d been careless, careless with their minds and, most disturbingly, their souls.” Favale went on to describe her teaching career this way: “I’d often felt good about exposing my students to heady and trendy theories about...
Recent Comments