For some months I have been getting questions about the "Gnostic gospels" and The Da Vinci Code, so it seems right to give readers of this newsletter a bit of guidance. This is by no means a definitive response or analysis—it is more like pastoral counsel— but I hope it will clear up a few things.

A number of issues come up again and again as we try to give a sound theological exposition of the Old Testament. My goal is to set out the framework in which I understand these issues, so you can see how that framework applies. I encourage you to take these thoughts further as you wrestle with the texts on your own.

It's not only more blessed to give than to receive," says Frederick Buechner, "it's also a whole lot easier."

We live in a society where kind, intelligent, sincere people all around us have very, very different religious convictions from Christian ones. What would ever lead a person to believe that there is one true God and only one way to Him in a time of such plurality? Or as it was asked to me once, what is your excuse for believing such a thing?

Helping Christians speak compassionately and without compromise on a difficult topic. 

I was on the campus of my alma mater a while ago. I was informed by one of my students that a significant "something" was going on in the midst of what is called Spiritual Emphasis Week, and quite frankly, I wanted to see it...

The implosibility structure of a culture

A number of years ago, my family had the wonderful experience of spending a year at a cabin in the woods while I was on a writing sabbatical. We chose a cabin about an hour from St. Louis so we could be far enough away from normal seminary operations for me to get my writing done, while still being close enough to St. Louis for my wife, Kathy, to perform her job as choir director at our church...

not formulas!

Every single person in the world has a worldview. A worldview is the conceptual grid we use to understand how life fits together. But...

The surgeon reported that my husband's prostate tested positively for cancer. He advised removing it immediately. Imagine Jim's emotions that morning as he checked in for surgery...

"Know" is an odd word! Suppose I say that I know that my husband is at the hardware store. Doesn't it seem as if he absolutely has to be there? Suppose I find out later that he really was at the bookstore...

C. S. Lewis is very much in the news these days. Bookstores are selling great quantities of Lewis’s Narnia stories and many other Narniarelated works because of the recent release of the film version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe...

My desire in this essay is to help us to think scripturally about the arts as Christian believers, for this is one of those areas where, at this present time, there appears to be great confusion in our churches...

"Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ... willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance" - Martin Luther

The article presently under examination is a transcript of a speech made to the American Humanist Association by Richard Dawkins on the occasion of his being named "Humanist of the Year, 1996".

Evaluate this statement: “The most important relationships for the traditional person are their family ties, for the modern person it is their lovers, and for the postmodern person it is their friends – because their family and lovers have let them down” (Dr. Tim Keller).

Even though this theory is considered passé in many critical circles, and postmodernism has largely abandoned the quest for sources as a waste of time because we can't understand authorial intent anyway, the documentary hypothesis is still widely taught and believed...

Leading a small group is always a risk.  Your sense of security and significance will be threatened, and your trust in the finished work of Christ as your core identity and source of worth before the Lord will take a direct hit as well...

I work at Vanderbilt University and am on staff with Reformed University Fellowship there. I’m also a Presbyterian chaplain. In my second year at Vanderbilt, we got a new Episcopalian priest whose name was Becca Stephens. The first time I met Becca...

God's people have always been a people who sung, so it seems more appropriate to ask for a defense of why we wouldn't sing together as a ministry. Singing together is biblically commanded and edifying to the brethren...

I am going to talk next about God and gender language. Some time ago now, I was watching a television program that revolved around a controversy in an evangelical seminary...

One of the basic features of church life in the U.S. today is the proliferation of worship and music forms...

Recently public television aired a documentary entitled, “The Merchants of Cool.” The program revealed how the various media conglomerates shape our understanding of what “cool” is, and then steer the buying taste of our youth in this regard...