Category: Culture
-
Born This Way (so Raise Your Glass, All You Fireworks)
Three hit songs in the last few months have pushed the same message: You are awesome. You’re awesome just the way you are, even –no, especially– if you don’t fit in. The three songs are “Firework” by Katy Perry, “Raise Your Glass” by Pink, and “Born this Way” by Lady Gaga. I don’t know who…
-
Surfers Defeat Strunk & White!
The New York Times called Strunk & White’s Elements of Style “as timeless as a book can be in our age of volubility.” It is a strong book, written with the same economy and sturdiness it calls forth from would-be writers. It is even a delight to read, at once funny and sage. But once, it is wrong. In…
-
Biola’s Jesus Mural: How “The Word” Dwells Among Us
One of the first things you’ll notice if you visit Biola University’s campus is our Jesus Mural, “The Word.” It’s iconic for us, our evangelical counterpart to Notre Dame’s “Touchdown Jesus.” It’s huge–27 feet tall–and all the more significant as it stands in the middle of a campus with few works of public art. Furthermore,…
-
Waking Up to Sloth
I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a…
-
The ‘New Monasticism’ Turns Ten
Professor Greg Peters examines the “new monastics” a decade on from their emergence into Christian life over at First Things: The new monasticism, characterized by Robin Russell as individuals and families who “commit to follow a ‘rule of life’ . . . and they immerse themselves in community life and service,” is without a doubt…
-
On Being White (And Talking About It) – Part 2
Read Part 1 here. As an African-American, third-culture adult teaching in an honors program at a predominantly white Christian institution of higher learning, married to a white American with a blended (bi-racial) daughter, I think about race a lot. I’ve been thinking through the issues addressed in this blog post on Huff Post Parents titled,…
-
On Being White (And Talking About It) — Part 1
Read Part 2 here. The last few weeks have involved lots of conversations about ethnicity, racial reconciliation, white identity, micro-aggressions, locs, Trayvon Martin, bi-racial children, “other”-ness, post-racial America, racism in Christianity, interracial dating, and a host of conversations about how to have these conversations. This may sound overwhelming, but it’s my life. As an African-American,…
-
The Courage to Speak: Responsibility, Accountability, and Community
So often we talk about being responsible for ourselves. But responsibility is not limited to ourselves alone. Being responsible demands a willingness to speak the truth to others when necessary. Consider David when he was at the zenith of his reign as King of Israel. David had fought numerous military battles against Israel’s enemy’s and…
-
Down with Random Acts of Kindness (What’s Best Next)
Matt Perman’s book What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done is finally available. I’ve been looking forward to this book for a long time, and am glad to report that it lives up to the high hopes I’ve had for it. The genre of productivity literature is its own…
-
Lent for the Rest of Us
Lots of people these days are going liturgical. Really, that’s not quite the right way to put it. All churches are liturgical, in so far as their worship of the Lord takes on a form and has an order to it. But you know what I mean. Many evangelicals are striking liturgical gold, discovering the…
-
A Real Advent
There are two versions of this essay by Greg Peters. You may be looking for this one. According to St. Benedict of Nursia the Christian life should always be a continuous Lent. According to Sts. Wal-Mart, Target and Starbucks autumn should always be a continuous Christmas. One would have to be truly deaf and blind…
-
Christmas Playlist 2013: Instrumental Good Cheer
Instrumental Christmas: The Sanders household just wasn’t in the mood for the all-out onslaught of the familiar Christmas music in the early days of this December, so we put together a set of wordless wonders, and we sought out as many unfamiliar tunes as possible. It’s a nice change of pace (though if you want…