Brenna Blain: ‘Suffering Clarified My Theology’

The first thing you notice about Brenna Blain is probably her tattoos, a patchwork of ink stretching from her shoulders to her hands. A death’s-head hawkmoth spreads its wings around her neck, with a marking at its center that resembles a human skull. For this 28-year-old Christian speaker and teacher in the Pacific Northwest, her Read more…

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Shielded from Truth at Our Own Expense

Around my sophomore year of college, I approached my African American History professor, Dennis C. Dickerson, to inquire about my performance. Honestly, I was fishing for a compliment. I spoke frequently in class and expected his praise. And since he was one of a limited number of Black professors on campus, I thought he’d flatter me Read more…

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Unclench Your Fist

Questions about the place of Christianity and the posture of Christians in a pluralistic society have never been merely theoretical for me. They have always been very personal. I was first drawn to the Christian faith as a child in London. Both the city and the school I attended there were marked by profound religious, Read more…

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The Church Can Help End The Phone-Based Childhood

As American kids head back to school this fall, many will do so with smartphones in hand. The average age at which American kids receive their first phone is just 11, and most public schools only ban nonacademic classroom phone use—and struggle to enforce even that. We know this is a problem. Research from academics like Jonathan Haidt and Read more…

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Sincerely, Your Spiritual Mentor

I have often longed for my own personal trainer, not so much for getting in better physical shape but for better understanding the whats and hows of Christian faith. To some degree, such training is the aim of those like me, who teach theology in a formal setting. But we can only accomplish so much in Read more…

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Worship Together or Bowl Alone

From wherever you’re sitting, this likely feels like a low point for the church in America. (Elsewhere it’s a different matter.)  Some of our neighbors see the church as an agent of reaction, pressing the brakes on every major movement for progress since the country’s founding. Others believe the church is a wolf in the Read more…

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