New Persuasive Words

There’s been some recent controversy at Wheaton College involving a professor who was put on administrative leave for statements she made about the relationship of Christianity and Islam. In response to the controversy Miroslav Volf wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post addressing the question: do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? We... The post Is The God Of Muhammad The Father O...

  won·der·ful adjective 1. inspiring delight, pleasure, or admiration; extremely good; marvelous. Is this a wonderful life? It’s the question behind one the great Christmas films of all time. It’s also a question people find themselves asking in a world that increasingly feels more lonely, chaotic and cold. What makes a wonderful and meaningful life?... The post Is This A Wonderful Life? appe...

There is a reason Mary is everywhere. I’ve seen her image all over the world, in cafés in Istanbul, on students’ backpacks in Scotland, in a market stall in Jakarta, but I don’t think her image is everywhere because she is a reminder to be obedient, and I don’t think it has to do with... The post There’s Something About Mary appeared first on New Persuasive Words .

Donald Trump made headlines yet again with a proposed plan to ban all Islamic entry to the United States. Almost every candidate and public political figure rushed to condemn Trump’s proposal. But a recent comprehensive study of American values and attitudes by the Public Religion Research Institute reveals that most Americans seem to agree with... The post Mirror Mirror On The Wall…A Demographic...

We're living in one of the most divided times in our country's history since the period that preceded the Civil War. It seems that more and more we have less and less in common as a country. We're divided into red states and blue states and increasingly we shop, eat and play in different places depending on our political and moral values. Then comes the holidays! The post The Official Guide To Sur...

The “Benedict Option” refers to Christians in the contemporary West who cease to identify the continuation of civility and moral community with the maintenance of American empire, and who therefore are keen to construct local forms of community as loci of Christian resistance against what the empire represents. Put less grandly, the Benedict Option —... The post Where Do We Sleep When Our Beds Are...

We have the capacity to imagine changing into something different than we are. This can be the blessing and the curse of the human condition. The post How Do People Change? appeared first on New Persuasive Words .

What do you do when your back is against the wall? Most of us either run in hope that we're faster than whatever frightens us, or we fight thinking that we're stronger than it. The post Fight or Flight? appeared first on New Persuasive Words .

...how much do we know about our thought process? And how important is what we know? Is it is important as being known? The post I Think Therefore…? appeared first on New Persuasive Words .

  We need not view a friendship with another human being either as having no other end but itself or as being solely a means to friendship with God. God is known in communion, but of course communion, the eucharist, is not passed between God and the individual alone, but shared among the community of... The post Friends appeared first on New Persuasive Words .

JOY IN NONSENSE. How can men take joy in nonsense? They do so, wherever there is laughter-in fact, one can almost say that wherever there is happiness there is joy in nonsense. It gives us pleasure to turn experience into its opposite, to turn purposefulness into purposelessness, necessity into arbitrariness, in such a way that... The post Don’t Worry, Be…Happy? appeared first on New Persuasive Wo...

  We can probably all agree that smartphones are now an inseparable part of ourselves (if you can afford one, that is), and so is the Internet. Whether that’s a good thing is still undergoing intense philosophical scrutiny. What is not up for debate is that a lot of our socializing occurs online, and as... The post Know Thy Selfie appeared first on New Persuasive Words .

MAELSTROMS — THOSE POWERFUL SWIRLING whirlpools in the open seas — have been known to pull hapless fishing boats, crew, and cargo down into a deadly vortex to the ocean’s dark depths. Maelstroms take on epic proportions in the world of fiction. In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “A Descent into the Maelstrom,” the lone... The post Beware The Maelstrom appeared first on New Persuasive Words .

Contemporary American culture, however, holds a much more optimistic view of human moral capabilities than does the Bible, and this has unfortunately crept into churches. How else to explain the fact that a religion based on acknowledging our own faults and shortcomings has become widely associated with extraordinary judgmentalism and self-righteousness?…American Christianity now is in... The post...

Some things you make. Some you recover. Some you discover. This podcast is a combination of all three. Often times after people see, hear or read something they connect with want to know where it came from. This came from our interaction with the work of Brene Brown, specifically around our need for relational connections,... The post Blessed Are The Vulnerable appeared first on New Persuasive Wor...

We recently had the privilege of talking with pastor, professor and author Tony Jones. You can find out more about Tony and his most recent Did God Kill Jesus? at his website: tonyj.net. Enjoy the conversation and grab a copy of Tony’s book! The post Did God Kill Jesus? appeared first on New Persuasive Words .

This converastion was inspired by an article in the New Yorker by Katherine Schultz. She describes a massive earthquake heading for the Pacific Northwest. It’s not if but when will this monster hit. Despite the certainty that this awful monstrous event will happen, there has been little or no preparations made for it. What does... The post The End Of The Word As We Know It…But Please Not In Winter...

We continue reflecting on the complexities of translating ideas from an ancient sacred text into contemporary concepts and language. The conversation was partly inspired by N.T. Wright’s review of Wesley Hill’s new book Paul and the Trinity.  Click here for a copy of the review. WARNING: This conversation will have special appeal to theological nerds. The post Lost In Translation, Part 2 appe...

This podcast was inspired by some questions asked by an old friend of Bill Borrer’s. Bill and I attempt to wrestle with how you hold onto faith amidst confusion about things like biblical interpretation and frustration with the church using the Bible like a weapon. We mention the following quote by Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI.... The post Lost In Translation, Part 1. appeared first on New Persuasi...

In the next four years there are 30, YES 30, comic book super hero movies or sequels scheduled to hit theaters near you. Why are there so many films being made about comic book heroes and why do we keep going to see them again and again? The post Summer Super Hero Movie Extravaganza appeared first on New Persuasive Words .