I adapted my talk on worthiness from church a few weeks ago. As a personal expert in making myself feel guilt about anything and everything, this is a topic I have thought a lot about.
On personal worthiness
Book review: “Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power” by Andy Crouch
This book fills an urgent need in contemporary dialogue: A Christian reflection on power, both its proper uses and acknowledgement of its abuses. Bottom line: power is for flourishing.
Book review: “The Many Faces of Christ”
A book with a simple premise, but potentially controversial: Not all of the early apostles and gospel writers viewed Christ the same way. *Gasp!* Don't tell me there were differences of opinion! Say it isn't so!
Book review: “Paul: A Biography” by N. T. Wright
Coming from a Latter-Day Saint perspective, some aspects of Paul may not fit into our cookie-cutter Sunday School version of the gospel, but his vision of a unified church across cultural boundaries is more relevant than ever.
Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
I feel that too often we concern ourselves with if and when Christ forgave the woman in adultery. But if you drop your stone for a minute and put yourself in her shoes, you recognize the full import of Christ's message here.
Book review: Justin Martyr’s Apologies
When I'm not an engineer, I want to be a theologian-philosopher-writer. I delved into my collection of ante-Nicene Church fathers this week.
Book review: “The Best of Lowell L. Bennion” edited by Eugene England
Lowell Bennion is my hero. "Nothing matters ultimately in any setting—in marriage, the family, school, the church, the community, the world—except what happens to persons."
Book review: Paul Tournier’s “The Whole Person in a Broken World”
This is the next book by Paul Tournier that I was able to hunt down in the UW library system. It too is out of print and unavailable as an ebook, but thanks to the interlibrary loan system, I was able to get it shipped from the University of Oregon. Paul Tournier is a Swiss... Continue Reading →
Book review: Paul Tournier’s “Guilt and Grace”
These past few weeks, I was feeling very world weary from the constant back and forth of sharp criticisms, ad hominem attacks, and gross exaggerations that is Twitter. There is very little effort to provide any nuanced approach. Then I began to notice the few accounts that were made to provide daily quotes by various... Continue Reading →
Post-conference thoughts
It's been a few days since the end of conference, giving me enough time to piece together a few of my thoughts. I haven't had time to completely read through all the talks yet, so I may do a few follow-up posts with some more in-depth thoughts on specific talks or themes. But wow! What... Continue Reading →
