ON THE ROAD AGAIN… There is a tendency in our culture to equate fullness with freedom, and freedom with leaving. ‘The road’ has become the iconic symbol of liberation. James Smith writes, “From On the Road to Easy Rider to Thelma and Louise, the road...
I’M NOT A WORKAHOLIC… I JUST WORK TO RELAX In the 1960’s Congress held a lengthy hearing to discuss what they perceived would be a massive problem in the coming decades: the twenty-hour work week. At the time, thinkers all over the world, from sci-fi writers to...
WHAT IT MEANS TO HAVE AN IDENTITY Who are you? What is your identity? An identity is thought to consist of two component parts. First, it contains a sense of self that is enduring. All of us exist in many circles at once. All of us are family members, colleagues at work or school...
REALITY TV THE SURPRISING ORIGIN OF REALITY TELEVISION If you were to guess, what year would you say that reality television began? Some might be surprised to learn that the genre was birthed in 1973 with a groundbreaking show called An American Family. The show was aired by PBS and it...
FRUSTRATION NOT THE WAY IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE It is common for people to say that life isn’t like the movies. Love stories don’t usually end happy ever after, crime often goes unpunished, the underdog regularly gets pummeled. Mike Cosper adds, “Nerds seldom take off their...
THE HERO’S JOURNEY HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO The song “Holding Out For a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler was written over 35 years ago for the soundtrack to the 1984 film Footloose, and it has had tremendous staying power. It has been featured in countless TV shows, movies, commercials, ads...
STORIES OF ROMANCE THE ORIGINAL LOVE STORY Our culture has a fascination with love stories. Tim Keller writes, “The human longing for true love has always been celebrated in song and story, but in our contemporary culture it has been magnified to an astonishing degree.”[1] Even...
HOW CAN WE PRACTICE EVANGELISM? We spent a lot of time last week talking about what evangelism is, why we struggle with it, and the need for us to “plan to stop not evangelizing.” This week, we are going to focus on some specific practices and attitudes that will aid us in our...
WHAT IS EVANGELISM? One might expect that evangelical Christians would not need to spend a lot of time on this point. Evangelicals have long been known, and rightly so, for their emphasis on evangelism. So, it would be reasonable to conclude that there would not be any disagreement regarding...
BUT I ONLY BELIEVE IN SCIENCE Neuroscientist Steven Pinker in his book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress, makes the rather bold claim that science has demonstrated that all of the belief systems of the major world religions are “factually...