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The following 45 entries are posted in the "Culture and the World" category.
July 24, 2008 12:58
I recently read a copy of The Word in this World: Two Sermons by Karl Barth, a new publication edited by Kurt Johanson. This slim volume reprints two of Barth’s seminal sermons, “On the Sinking of the Titanic (Psalm 103:15-17)” preached ...
April 03, 2008 11:40
From Glenn Watson’s preaching.org feature article for April…
Sitting in a conference room in 2004 with three hundred aspiring European movie screenwriters, producers, directors and actors, I experienced, vividly an...
February 13, 2008 15:26
I caught some of the congessional hearings on steriods in baseball this morning. It is a classic case of “he said” ... “he said”, pitting ace Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens against his former trainer Brian McNamee. McNamee claims that he inje...
February 12, 2008 13:48
It struck me the other night, while watching American Idol that we have created a culture of criticism. I was contentedly critiquing the performances of the various Idol-ites oblivious to the fact that I might have been even less qualified to comment on t...
November 11, 2007 07:45
November 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada, the day we set aside to remember the contribution made by those who have died in battle to preserve our way of life at home and abroad. This year, as the death toll in Afghanistan grows, Canadians are particularly aware of...
October 05, 2007 07:49
I recently received a copy of demographic information based on the 2006 Canadian Census. The results are no less interesting for the fact that they are predictable. Some key areas of interest…
-over 5.8 million Canadian taxfilers donated a record $...
August 24, 2007 10:25
Mark Galli at Christianity Today is suggesting that we have better things to do than “transform the world.” There are a lot of people calling on the church to work to change the world, Galli says, which is going to lead to a very big disappoin...
August 14, 2007 11:16
Further to my thoughts posted yesterday, my problem is not so much with the idea that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are harming the environment. I’ve little question that it is true to some extent. My concern is with the difficulty we have in knowing. I&...
August 13, 2007 12:20
I’m a global warming skeptic. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t care about the environment. As a child of God I understand my responsibility as a steward of creation and I take it seriously. It’s just that I’m not sure I...
August 09, 2007 11:05
Understanding the Bible requires a nuanced appreciation of the original cultures to which the text was given. I don’t like to overplay the distance between text and today. We are all, then and now, humans after all. Still, just like we moderate our communica...
July 26, 2007 11:10
I don’t know about things where you live, but it seems that most younger people around here spent the weekend reading the latest and final installment of the Harry Potter series. Christianity Today suggests that while the books offer far less than a gospel r...
June 14, 2007 11:52
There’s a lot of talk out there about some high profile “emerging” churches. We’re hearing about “progressional dialogue” preaching, worship stations, and other innovations. The implication seems to be that these things will cha...
May 14, 2007 12:35
Last week I attended a play that was written and performed by renowned Canadian artist, Robert Lepage. Lepage is the quintessential postmodern theatrical artist. For example, he and his company, Ex Machina, are working on a production called Lipsync, which eventua...
May 11, 2007 11:17
Here’s a fascinating video describing the way that language has changed in this digital age. As those who make their living wielding words, preachers ought to think about the way that language mediates meaning.
The Machine is Us/ing Us
February 28, 2007 11:22
Here we go again. It turns out that the newest archeological discovery to discredit the resurrection of Jesus is not so new. Serious archeologists, both secular and Christian, have known about the tomb for years and have discounted its relevance. That isn’t ...
February 27, 2007 11:32
I’ll admit it. I watched the Oscars Sunday night. I’m not into the cult of celebrity or anything like that, but as a preacher I am an observer of culture, and nothing displays the obsessions of our culture(s) like Oscar night. If it is true that more t...
February 14, 2007 12:16
This being Valentine’s Day, I thought I would share the results of a nationwide “love poll” published in this week’s issue of Macleans magazine. The poll addresses questions on love and relationships among Canadians. Some of the highlights ...
February 12, 2007 12:14
It’s Monday, so here’s a sampling of some of my thoughts emerging from the weekend.
-Last year the New York Times reported that for the first time in American history, there are more women living alone than with a spouse. There are a...
February 09, 2007 14:46
Christianity Today gathered a group of prominent pastors together at this past summer’s National Pastor’s Conference to talk about preaching and consumerism. The panel included John Ortberg, Doug Pagitt, Will Willimon and Efrem Smith. To read the a...
January 31, 2007 11:26
Over the years I’ve learned to be a little suspicious of statistics – or at least the way that numbers can be manipulated. I don’t imagine many preachers would deliberately misrepresent their case by manipulating statistics. Nonetheless, it happe...
January 25, 2007 10:21
I received a call from a Macleans’ magazine reporter yesterday regarding my blog last week about “sermo-mercials.” I’ll be interviewed later today on the subject. I was thinking that in some ways, this is a compliment. It is a good thing th...
January 22, 2007 12:45
An item from the Baptist Press suggests that pastors may be out of touch with their world. While this might not strike us as news, it might be of some concern if pastors are less tuned in to the surrounding culture than their people are.
“Research ...
January 17, 2007 11:50
Yesterday’s ‘Preaching Now’ email from Preaching magazine mentioned a new trend toward advertising from the pulpit:
“The newest advertising trend is aimed at your church. As a recent article in the Knowledge@Wharton (from the Whar...
January 16, 2007 11:36
A church from my denomination has come under fire for hosting a professed former Islamic terrorist. Zachariah Anani gave a lecture at Campbell Baptist Church in Windsor, Ontario, titled “The Deadly Threat of Islam.” The speech created a firestorm resul...
January 04, 2007 14:13
The September 2006 issues of the Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society offers an interesting article by Nicholas Gatzke on the practice of preaching within the Emerging church. As with everything else in the Emerging movement, there is a variety of opinion...
December 14, 2006 11:49
Yesterday I spent some time working on a project to help people think about how to communicate more effectively in the postmodern context. The following items are some of my random thoughts regarding attitudes we ought to adopt if we want to be more effective in t...
November 10, 2006 09:47
In these days of muddled wars in Iraq and such places, most of us feel deeply conflicted about the justice of war and the place of combat for those who have been saved by the Prince of Peace. Suffice it to say that I am convinced that no human conflict, no matter ...
October 30, 2006 12:53
Last week’s issue of Macleans’ magazine carried an ominous headline on its cover: “Why the Future Belongs to Islam.” The article, an extended excerpt from Mark Steyn’s new book, America Alone, makes its case largely on demogr...
October 10, 2006 14:15
This morning, greeted by headlines about nuclear detonations in North Korea, I am reminded of our need to pray for peace. I will never forget visiting the DMZ separating North and South Korea a few years ago. It was heart-rending to watch...
October 03, 2006 12:42
Have you seen those creepy trailers for the award-winning new movie Jesus Camp? The movie follows three pre-teens to a Pentecostal Bible Camp in North Dakota. The portrayal is not flattering Jesus Camp.
I support Bible camps for children. I̵...
September 28, 2006 18:22
Local sports talk radio hosts were talking about Shawn Alexander’s injured foot today. Alexander, Seattle Seahawks MVP running back, is scheduled to miss at least two weeks action with a broken foot. According to the radio report, A...
September 26, 2006 12:25
A cheeky group of Christian advertisers from the UK have set up a myspace account for Jesus. Jesus is described as a 33 year old from the Middle East who lists his hobbies as beard care and extreme waterskiing. His favorite movie is Life of Brian and he i...
September 26, 2006 12:24
I’ll admit, I was one of the 19 million people who watched the first episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on NBC. I even caught the second episode last night on Canadian television. I enjoyed the thoughtful political banter of The Wes...
September 21, 2006 13:09
Mid-term elections are coming up in the United States. Here in Canada we are expecting a federal election in the spring. I love elections. I’m always interested in learning how people use the opportunity to try and persuade others to their point of view and ...
September 14, 2006 11:51
The fifth anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy has shone a light on the dark underside of western civilizationi’s fascination with conspiracy. In the name of truth, large numbers of seekers pursue the most ridiculous lunacies so as to support their own cherished ...
August 26, 2006 12:40
Is the age of the blockbuster over? Not quite, according to Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More (www.amazon.com). In the age of Amazon and iTunes we can offer everything even if sales are not strong....
August 19, 2006 14:55
Here in Canada, most of the recent news has focused on the International AIDS Conference held this week in Toronto featuring high profile appearances by people like Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. Not surprisingly, however, faith-based group...
August 11, 2006 15:45
Minutes ago I heard Bill Hybels interview Bono at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, currently being simulcast to almost 80,000 leaders worldwide. Something has happened to the church at large if all of its leaders are now into U2. I’ve got all those sermon...
August 10, 2006 15:22
Personally, I’m inclined to be generous. It’s not always a good thing in a professor – depending on your perspective. Come grading time, I tend to give the student the benefit of the doubt which tends to make them happy and happy students tend to...
August 10, 2006 15:20
Preaching is undervalued. If “Homiletics” was a stock on the Nasdaq it would carry a strong “sell” recommendation from most pundits. Many just aren’t sure that the sermon can carry the freight. As preachers we are trying to build beli...
August 10, 2006 15:20
Recently I picked up my copy of John S. McLure’s Other-Wise Preaching (Chalice 2001), a book that had attracted me a couple of years ago because of its creative title. McLure’s goal had been to describe a “postmodern ethic of preaching.&...
August 10, 2006 15:13
If you are struggling to understand the “emergent church” and its attempt to meet the challenge of postmodern culture, try the following resources.
Burke, Spencer and Colleen Pepper, Making Sense of Church: Eavesdropping on Emerging Conversations abo...
August 10, 2006 15:00
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and ta...
August 10, 2006 14:55
“Have you heard about the Royal Rumble?”
“What’s the Royal Rumble?”
“You haven’t heard about the Royal Rumble???”
I was listening to my son respond to his eight year old friend in the ba...
August 10, 2006 14:52
“In 1993 the United States’ National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released the results of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). The survey tested participants in their ability with prose (editorials, magazine articles, brochures, fiction), doc...