Every year at this time I create a Facebook post about the 3-5 books I read during the year that I highly recommend. This year I decided I would write a short blog post about these books because it gives me the opportunity to write a brief review and hopefully sell people on why they... Continue Reading →
I still remember the emphasis my elementary school placed on reading- RIF (Reading Is Fundamental, book fairs, and of course Book It with the free pizzas. These days I set a goal for what I am going to read during the upcoming year during the last week of the current year, the goal is twofold-... Continue Reading →
I have little kids, which means this time of year I watch Christmas programs with them and being the relatively strange person I am I cannot help thinking about what these shows are teaching my kids. To many analyzing the philosophy behind kids shows is a laughable, but there are times, and Christmas is often... Continue Reading →
A new study finds that 40% of Americans believe there is a "war on Christmas", specifically that secular, pluralistic, woke, and/or other liberal forces are stealing Christmas from us (news story here). But this line of thinking is simply another avenue of Christian Nationalism that has seeped into the collective conscious of political conservatives. Christmas... Continue Reading →
Today, after much controversy the Cleveland Indians baseball franchise is officially changing their name to the Cleveland Guardians. I have been a fan of this team since the late '80's and ridden the highs and lows that come with cheering on any Cleveland franchise. While I will admit I am more excited than sad about... Continue Reading →
Recently I had a brief interaction with an individual because a mutual friend was celebrating his opportunity to study and posted a picture of a large stack of books. This friend is a pastor and the woman commented that what the Church needs is the Holy Spirit, implying that my friend was wasting his time... Continue Reading →
This past week I saw a video clip from John Hagee's Cornerstone church which showed people on stage exhorting individual's to chant "Let's go Brandon." [(So no one can accuse me of left-wing bias) here is the Christian Post article which also discusses the meaning behind the phrase for those who do not know.] Admittedly... Continue Reading →
In preparing for my upcoming lecture on the Story of Christianity I ran across a line that stopped me cold. What we often study in isolated detail as so many examples of literary, legal, and iconographic borrowings from the secular world, if taken altogether add up in themselves to a clue to the success of... Continue Reading →
I recently decided to give the podcast Supernatural with Ashley Flowers a chance and this week I listened to the episode HAUNTED: The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund. I think I have said it here before I have a somewhat uneasy relationship with the reality of demons and how they interact with our world. Intellectually I... Continue Reading →
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:28 One argument I often bristle at in a conversation comes when... Continue Reading →
Squinting in the Light 