Staying Connected in a Wireless World
by Sarah J. Bracey Recently, my husband and I retreated for a weekend and rented a cabin a few hours away. We also invited some of our family, including my two youngest sisters (seventeen and fifteen years old) to join us, thinking this would be an opportunity for us all to spend some time together in the great outdoors. When my sister arrived, her first words were “What’s the Wi-Fi password?” Perhaps the amenity of free Wi-Fi and her...
Recommended Books (Autumn 2016)
Francis Bacon wrote in his 1625 essay, “Of Studies,” that reading is a private delight which strengthens the mind and sharpens the personality. However, he remarked, there are various ways of reading and not all books deserve the same attention. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and...
Why Pastors Aren’t Perfect: An Interview with Zack Eswine
Pastors are a very unique species. They are not only called to bridge two worlds in their preaching, as the John Stott title famously put it, but to live in two worlds. They bear the demanding burden of feeding and leading the flock of God, while at the same time being members of the flock (1 Pt. 5:1-4). They must find a way daily to manage the expectations of those they serve, while living with the fact that those expectations still...
Christianity and Technology: A Primer
Many years ago, various circumstances led me to focus my research and reflection on technology. In reality, what led me down this rabbit hole was observing the rapid change in the world around me. I saw its influence on Christian thought and practice, and I was curious as to why much of the best literature on technology and social change was not produced by people of traditional religious faith.[1] A recent CNN Films documentary...
Ministering in an Age of Distraction
An image has recently surfaced on Twitter showing the intense hold that electronic media has on children The picture portrays a gathering of students in front of one of Rembrandt’s most famous and moving pieces, The Night Watch, at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.[1] What’s interesting, although not surprising, is that none of the students are observing the painting, but all of them are looking at their phones. With the opportunity to look at...
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