Featured Essay / Literature
Young, Frances M. Construing the Cross: Type, Sign, Symbol, Word, Action. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2015. Frances M. Young’s Construing the Cross is no mere exercise by a young scholar with an idea, research leave and a bibliography. Rather, this is the product of a mature and measured lifetime of…
Essay / Literature
Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time was published in 1962. A few years ago, several Torrey professors had a panel discussion about this strange book that had stayed in print for 50 years, finding new audiences all the time. Now that the Ava DuVernay-directed Disney
Essay / Theology
Now that Biola’s magazine The King’s Business is all digitally available online (hurrah!), I’ve begun a leisurely reading program, going through the Bible Institute’s history on a 100-year delay. The magazine began in 1910, and by 1918 it was under R.A. Torrey’s editorial hand and was
Essay / Art
A few years ago I was looking for paintings to use as background images for a lecture. I wanted some biblical imagery that featured scenery over characters, added some beauty and atmosphere without taking over, and was all by one artist so that there weren’t
Essay / Theology
The Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care has been going for ten years, and has recently become available as an academic journal through Sage Publications. If you’re not familiar with the journal, you should check it out, and if you’re in pastoral or spiritual
Essay / Education
One year out of college, I was invited to return to Biola to work for John Mark Reynolds, the founder and then director of the Torrey Honors Institute. One of the unquestionable highlights of the three years which followed have to do with certain memories and experiences
Essay / Theology
On Sunday Jan 28, I preached on Ephesians 1:3-14 at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Tenth is a historic site for doctrinal and expository preaching, and I’m grateful to Pastor Liam Goligher for the invitation. It’s a 40-minute exposition of my love affair with Ephesians
Essay / Theology
Here is the video of a sermon I preached on Reformation Day 500 in Talbot Chapel at Biola. It’s got bacon, Reddit, semantic drift, a killer visual aid, some Bible thumping, karma, and the Trinity in it. It’s also about Ephesians.
Essay / Theology
For at least three reasons, it seems like there’s nothing less appropriate than for God to become incarnate: Divinity is infinite; but humanity is finite, and those two things don’t go together by nature. God is simple, not put together from constituent parts; but for
Essay / Theology
A friend recently gave me a copy of this new devotional book, Meditations on the Trinity: Beauty, Mystery, and Glory in the Life of God, by A.W. Tozer. A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) wrote a lot of books, but if you’re a fan, you’re probably thinking,
Essay / Theology
December is always a strange time of year for Christians at a college. With the end of the semester approaching, it’ a very busy time in the academic calendar when the work can begin to seem unendurable and our energy is almost spent. It’s
Essay / Theology
Here’s an endorsement I wrote for Brian Hedges‘ new book, With Jesus: Finding Your Place in the Story of Christ (Shepherd Press, 2017): When we think about the Christian life as union with Christ, we often turn to Paul’s letters where the doctrine is explained
Essay / Theology
Faithlife (maker of Logos Bible Software) has started a new print journal of theological education: Didaktikos. It’s edited by Douglas Estes; click on through and see how to subscribe. In the first issue, I wrote a little report (in the “Currents” section) to bring readers