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August 2017

August 09, 2017

Blog changes

As you have surely noticed, this blog has a completely new look. I knew that...

August 01, 2017

I’m going down under

We're off to Australia, where we will be for the entire month of August. We...

June 2017

June 16, 2017

“Hell is other people” vs. Heaven is other people

In his play No Exit, existentialist thinker Jean Paul Sartre said and portrayed that "Hell...

June 07, 2017

“When the secular was sacred”

I grew up in a liberal mainline denomination in the 1950s and 1960s, going to...

May 2017

May 15, 2017

The little nation that defeated the Soviets

A nation is defined by its history and its people's common experiences. That is especially...

May 08, 2017

Challenges for conservative churches in Scandinavia

In Finland, I taped three programs for the Christian television network. The host, Leif Nummela,...

May 01, 2017

Back in the U.S.A.

We're back from Finland. We had a wonderful time, were well-received, and learned a lot....

April 2017

April 26, 2017

A Lutheran Catholic and vocation

Our hosts here in Finland arranged a city tour of Helsinki with Emil Anton. As...

April 21, 2017

Dispatch from Finland

We are in Finland, safe and sound. We are having a good and fascinating time....

April 18, 2017

I’m off to Finland

Today my wife and I fly off to Finland. I will be giving lectures at...

April 10, 2017

Russell Westbrook for MVP

The Oklahoma City Thunder marketing office called our church a couple of months ago, saying...

March 2017

March 01, 2017

“Welcome, dear feast of Lent”

"Welcome, dear feast of Lent," wrote George Herbert in a poem on the subject. Of...

December 2016

December 07, 2016

So why the loss of interest in the NFL?

Television ratings are way down for professional football games. The NFL is trying to figure...

December 05, 2016

Back in the U.S.A.!

We are back in the good old U.S. of A. after spending a month visiting...

November 2016

November 24, 2016

Thanksgiving in Australia

It's strange being in Australia for Thanksgiving. We're getting together with some other expatriate Americans,...

November 14, 2016

Leon Russell dies

Another icon of my youth, Leon Russell, passed away at age 74. A piano player...

November 07, 2016

The Doctrine of Two Kingdoms as a Paradigm for Criticism

I spoke at Jordan Cooper's "Just & Sinner" conference, the topic of which was the...

November 03, 2016

Blogging from Down Under

We're on our way to Australia to visit our grandchildren, daughter, and son-in-law (a new...

October 2016

October 26, 2016

Conference on Christ, Culture, and the Two Kingdoms

I'll be speaking at the 2016 Just and Sinner Conference this Thursday through Saturday. The...

September 2016

September 28, 2016

Family Vocation, revisted

It's very gratifying for a writer to hear from a reader who "gets" what the...

September 05, 2016

My vocation trilogy

I have written three books on vocation. I just realized that this constitutes a trilogy....

September 01, 2016

“Family Vocation” giveaway

GoodReads is giving away five copies of Family Vocation: God's Calling in Marriage, Parenting, and...

August 2016

August 23, 2016

Chance for free books

Are you familiar with GoodReads, a popular site for following authors, seeing what your friends...

August 10, 2016

Evan McMullin for President?

Finally, an independent candidate for president has emerged, an alternative to both Hillary Clinton and...

July 2016

July 05, 2016

Confessions of an ex-liberal theologian

Thomas C. Oden is a prominent theologian who formerly was a major practitioner of liberal,...

July 04, 2016

The magnitude of human sin

One of my most formative memories is when I was ten years old and the...

April 2016

April 01, 2016

Two kinds of masculinity

Imagine my surprise and my pride in seeing my cousin's daughter quoted by David Brooks...

March 2016

March 31, 2016

Sample from my new book on vocation

The Acton Institute has put together a sample from my new book Working for Our...

March 29, 2016