The Cross in an Age of ‘Spiritual Derangement’

I love the church, but I can’t say I always understand or even like it. And in my more than half a century inside it, I can’t remember a time when the American church seemed less clear about its identity and purpose. The Lord decreed love as our signature characteristic (John 13:35), yet Christians have Read more…

The post The Cross in an Age of ‘Spiritual Derangement’ appeared first on Christianity Today.

Read More

Reading Scripture through Embodied Eyes

We all lead diverse sensory lives—in the form of memories, reflections, emotions, and events that become embedded into our embodied lives. It is through our five senses that we encounter the world, and these experiences get encoded into the fabric of our beings to be later recalled, from compassion and peace to trauma and violence. Read more…

The post Reading Scripture through Embodied Eyes appeared first on Christianity Today.

Read More

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…

The post Sincerely, Your Spiritual Mentor appeared first on Christianity Today.

Read More

Meet the ‘Precocious Atheist’ Still Pining for a Misplaced Faith

Donna Freitas’s spiritual autobiography, Wishful Thinking: How I Lost My Faith and Why I Want to Find It, stands in the tradition of the “dark-night-of-the-soul” memoir. But unlike mystics such as St. John of the Cross, who found their way through dark times into the light of faith, Freitas is unsure whether she ever believed Read more…

The post Meet the ‘Precocious Atheist’ Still Pining for a Misplaced Faith appeared first on Christianity Today.

Read More

10 Prayers for a Volatile Election Season

We’re in the last couple months leading up to an election some say is the “most important” of our time. As political presidential candidates vie for our votes, divisiveness and vitriol are at an all-time high in our country—not just in the public square but in the church as well. It’s more important than ever Read more…

The post 10 Prayers for a Volatile Election Season appeared first on Christianity Today.

Read More

How to Talk About God and Politics in Polarized Times

How do we talk about Big Things when it seems so risky? It feels hard these days to even mention Jesus in conversation when we are faced with hostility toward Christianity. As faith is declining in the West, how will people find Christ if we can’t talk about him with nonbelieving friends and family? Our Read more…

The post How to Talk About God and Politics in Polarized Times appeared first on Christianity Today.

Read More