In “The Fiddler on the Roof,” Tevye asks his wife: “do you love me?” A beautiful song follows, as his wife relives the last 25 years of their marriage, thinking through the chores, the children, the sacrifices… but through all this Tevye’s refrain echoes: “yes…
Adam focuses on the doctrine of the atonement, using theological, biblical, historical and literary sources. He loves hiking, making rope-swings, and generally having fun with his wife Katrina and their three sons. Read more about Adam here.
Posts
Essay / Culture
Father, Son and Michael Jordan? Gatorade’s Image of the Trinity
You have likely heard several bad images of the Trinity. Ice, water and steam are one in that they are all water, but three states. There are three leaves to a clover, but one clover…. There are any number of such images, each offering an
Essay / Education
Head Held High: A Glimpse into the Heart of Education
A student gave me a beautiful reminder of the heart of a liberal arts education last semester. And it wasn’t because she got good grades. In fact, her grades were pretty poor. Having done the vast majority of the work for the semester, she found
Essay / Literature
The Metaphysics of Candlelight
Nature’s Distilled Sunlight Have you ever wondered why you loved candlelight? And what is so mesmerizing about the embers of a campfire? It is as though the depths of wisdom were contained in the spectrum of reds, oranges, yellows and blues, glowing and pulsing with life.
Essay / Theology
Witness to the Fittingness of the Atonement
Perhaps you have heard critiques of penal substitution based on the fact that it seems rooted in divine violence, which in turn supports violence within families and social structures. Perhaps you have heard debates between adherents of different views of Christ’s work, both of which
Essay / Theology
Non-Competing Theories of the Atonement
As I told my veteran pastor of my plans to do graduate studies in the doctrine of the atonement, a wry smile creased his face as he asked: “So… which theory of the atonement do you believe in?” I responded: “All of them!” The purpose
Essay / Theology
“Put Away Thy Daintiness!” A Call to Meditate on Christ’s Atonement
Augustine writes in his Confessions: “You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Immediately following this petition, he prays: “Grant me Lord to know and understand.” The
Essay / Culture
The Theologian’s Stone: Atonement In Harry Potter, Book I
“It is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn…. Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a
Essay / Avant-Garde
Spiegelman’s “Maus,” Rights, & the Atonement
World War II and the Holocaust of the Jews have been a significant part of my life. I have toured Washington DC’s Holocaust museum several times, spent a day at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany, and read several books on the subject. My grandfather
Essay / Literature
A Review of Vidu’s “Atonement, Law and Justice”
Adonis Vidu, “Atonement, Law and Justice.” Grand Rapids: Baker, 2014. Vidu’s recent book is worth a careful read for two substantial developments. In the first five chapters, Vidu traces the inter-relationship between the atonement (specifically focused on penal substitution) and understandings of law throughout history, starting a
Essay / Art
Christ’s Death and the Fate of Western Lowland Gorillas
Paul Fryer’s striking art installation is a beautiful and realistic work… of a crucified gorilla. At first one might think his “Privilege of Dominion” is little more than a parody of the Christian faith, a repetition of ancient graffiti portraying Christ crucified with the head
Essay / Culture
In Defense of ‘Ramona’ and Other Children’s Classics
I teach classics for a living. As a result, my kids overhear conversations and snippets of conversations about Homer, Dante, Shakespeare and a host of others. But that’s not all they hear, for as someone devoted to the classics, I share this love with them