Francis Schaeffer: In Memoriam
Why would a thirty-something, Arminian Baptist care about a Calvinist Presbyterian who died forty years ago today? The answer: plenty. The life of Francis Schaeffer (1912–1984) has affected my own life, affecting the entirety of my worldview, as well as the lives of countless evangelicals. I consistently find myself reflecting on his life and ministry of Schaeffer, including how he ministered in his own context and how his work and...
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...
The Church as the Plausibility Structure
“You might be the only Bible that someone ever reads.” This phrase has been repeated in youth group rooms and from pulpits across our country. The sentiment is good. It is a reminder for individual Christians to take seriously a biblical ethic. If believers claim to believe the Bible is true, then they should follow it so that their lives would reflect that truth. Moreover, non-Christians often will not start with the Bible in their...
Teaching Apologetically
I have written a fair amount over the years on the importance not only of teaching theology but also of teaching (and living) theologically in relation to youth ministry. I want to encourage youth pastors (and all pastors) always to have a mind toward the theological truth behind what they are teaching. How does one teach in a form that effectively respects and represents the important content they are communicating? It is this...
Seeing Clearly: C. S. Lewis and Imagination
It may have begun with a toy garden in the lid of a cookie tin. C. S. Lewis’s brother Warnie had put moss, twigs, and flowers in the lid, and made a garden-forest for his younger sibling. Lewis said that it was the first beauty he had ever known. He stated, “As long as I live my imagination of Paradise will retain something of my brother’s toy garden.”[1] For Lewis the life of imagination and joy started early. Of course, people are...
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