I was rolling on Ecstasy when the scales suddenly fell from my eyes. I never thought I would become a Christian. I wasn’t raised in church. I grew up believing science had all the answers, that religion was merely lingering superstition from a more primitive time. Adam and Eve, Noah’s ark, Jonah living in the …
How the German martyr’s example has been used—and abused—in American public discourse. We Americans have fashioned many Dietrich Bonhoeffers for ourselves in the decades since the German theologian was put to death at the Flossenbürg concentration camp in 1945. In The Battle for Bonhoeffer: Debating Discipleship in the Age of Trump, Rhodes College professor Stephen …
Poet Christian Wiman helps us tune our ears to silence, so God’s voice won’t be lost in the noise. If I could, I would give this review a flashing, neon title. I would aim on it a bright and roving spotlight. I would print it up like a recruitment poster, pointing finger and all, because …
In an age when most are rushing to have their say, Christians can love by giving others a hearing. I remember having a discussion around faith matters years ago with an intelligent person. I met him at an event I was attending with a few friends. On one particular evening, we all decided to have …
Cultures of restraint fare better than cultures of mere consent, research shows. When college freshmen step on campus for the first day of school, they will be entering what experts consider the riskiest period for sexual assault, spanning from the start of the semester to Thanksgiving break. One Christian college graduate remembers her first weeks …
The hype declared Batman an atheist. There’s more to it than that. A young boy kneels by his bed, lit by a single candle. His hands clasped in a prayerful posture, he pronounces a vow that will shape the rest of his life: “And I swear by the spirits of my parents to avenge their …
As a Christian and a neuroscientist, I keep learning that to be human is to have a soul. From Plough Quarterly No. 17: The Soul of Medicine (Summer 2018) Copyright © 2018 by Plough Publishing House. Reposted with permission. I watched the CAT scan images appear on the screen, one by one. The baby’s head …
A new history of the ubiquitous personality test sheds light on what it can and can’t deliver. Know thyself. This phrase is inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, which was built in the 4th century B.C. It’s most commonly attributed to Socrates (470–399 B.C.), who often referred to this Delphic …
How critics can help us keep such social ministries vibrant. I find myself scratching my head as to why so many evangelical Christians committed to social justice are reacting so strongly to the recent statement on social justice. In part it may be due to matters of style and tone; the statement, for example, is …
Science can explain why Hurricane Florence is threatening my home. But it can’t interpret it. On Ash Wednesday 1962, the dead didn’t just rise again. They floated. The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 was one of the worst storms to hit the Eastern seaboard in modern memory. One of the places hardest hit was Chincoteague …