Ben Witherington is the Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. Considered by many to be a leading New Testament scholar, Witherington has written over thirty books and six commentaries. For more information, view his faculty profile page or read his blog. Recently he listed his concerns with contemporary views of spiritual formation: Monastic models of piety frankly don't Read More …
Discipleship
The Church of 2010 (#0213)
The Barna Group just released a list of six megathemes that characterize the American church in 2010. The list was created by "analyzing insights drawn from more than 5,000 non-proprietary interviews conducted over the past 11 months." The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for Read More …
The Gap Between Saying and Going: A Church Attendance Reality Check (#0208)
How many Americans attend church regularly (two or three times a month or more)? Extensive research suggests that the number who say they do so is between 35 and 45% of the adult population. Interestingly, new research by Phillip S. Brenner suggests that there is a significant gap between what Americans claim about their church attendance and their actual attendance. Philip S. Brenner is a University of Michigan research fellow at the Institute for Social Research. Read More …
World Aids Day (#0199)
The World AIDS Day theme for 2010 is Universal Access and Human Rights. Celebrated every year on December 1 since its inception in 1989, World AIDS Day plays a critical role in raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice, and improving education on a global scale. UNAIDS estimates that there are now 33.3 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2009 some 2.6 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 1.8 Read More …
Time Before Money (#0198)
Wendy Liu, Assistant Professor of Marketing at UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Jennifer Lynn Aaker, General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, co-authored "The Happiness of Giving: The Time-Ask Effect," which was published in the Journal of Consumer Research; October 2008, Vol. 35 Issue 3, pp.543-557. Those interested in the full text can read it here. The abstract summarizes the paper: This research Read More …
Before You Give (#0191)
Meet the Journalist Nicholas D. Kristof is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who currently writes op-ed columns that appear twice a week for the New York Times. Viewed by many as a leader in web journalism, Kristoff was the first blogger on the New York Times website. To learn more about or to connect with him consider reading his blog, following him on Twitter, liking him on Facebook, or viewing his channel on YouTube. Year End Giving Kristoff's most recent article, "When Read More …
Review of Why Jesus? (#0190)
William H. Willimon. Why Jesus? Abingdon Press: 2010. ISBN: 9781426700286. Meet the Author Since 2004, William H. Willimon has served as a Bishop in the United Methodist Church responsible for overseeing 57,000 members and 792 pastors in North Alabama. Previously, he served for twenty years as Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University. Willimon is the author of over sixty books including two best sellers: Sinning Like a Christian: A Read More …
Catholics to Recognize Protestant Baptisms (#0189)
After working for the last six years on a means to provide mutual recognition of baptism with several Reformed Protestant denominations, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted in favor of the measure at their annual Fall General Assembly. While similar agreements have been reached in other countries, this is the first of its kind in the United States. According to Religion News Service, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, chairman of the ecumenical and Read More …
Lessons I am Learning (#0187)
For those in liturgical congregations, this Sunday’s celebration of the reign of Christ will mark the end of the church year. Next Sunday, November 28, we will begin a new year with the season of Advent. As we near the end of this year, I have been reflecting on my journey of faith over the past twelve months. Three experiences have played critical roles in informing and continually reforming my faith: Exploring Experience: After serving five congregations in lay or Read More …
Reign of Christ / Christ the King (#0186)
From Christ the King to Reign of Christ to . . . This Sunday is the final Sunday of the liturgical year: Christ the King. Carey Gardner Mack provides a brief history of this new addition to the church year: Christ the King Sunday is a relatively new development. It does not bear the history of many long-held church traditions such as All Saints or Christmas or Easter and does not possess the deep and traditional biblical backing of these celebrations. Pope Pius XI brought Christ the Read More …