Essay

  In my time of dying, want nobody to mourn All I want for you to do is take my body home Well, well, well, so I can die easy  Jesus, gonna make up my dyin' bed. Meet me, Jesus, meet me. Meet me in the middle of…

  "So who are you rooting for in the Super Bowl?" All week... the same question. "I hope they both lose," is the response I've been giving. "Oh, but Peyton Manning..." Blah, blah, blah. Yes, great football player, even better SNL host. His skit about…

At the beginning of every Biblical Foundations course—a college course for college freshman—I spend the first week or so talking about the importance of mythology. I have them read the first two chapters of the book From Homer to Harry Potter: A Handbook of Mythology in…

The New York Times recently ran an Op-Ed piece by Michael Moore on the topic of Obamacare. True to form, Moore's piece makes both conservatives and liberals unhappy. On the one hand he refers to Obamacare as an abysmal failure, not because of the birth…

I know, I know... I'm supposed to say that Christmas isn't about lights, or trees, or the gifts we receive; I'm supposed to remember the "reason for the season" as they say around here. I'm supposed to say that I hate black Friday (or Brown…

This past week I came across an interesting article on the lesser known life of C.S. Lewis. If protestants canonized "saints" undoubtedly C.S. Lewis would be one of the first and greatest for many within the evangelical world. It's funny how we make our "saints"…

Mother I made it up from the bruise on the floor of this prison Mother I lost it, all of the fear of the Lord I was given Mother forget me now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to Mother forgive me, I sold your car…

  The film Lars and the Real Girl tells the story about a young man—Lars—trying to work through relational and emotional issues. His mother died giving birth to him; his father, crushed by his wife's death, was emotionally distant. Lars is awkward - living in…

Two weeks ago I went to the late showing of Gravity… by myself. Fitting, I guess. Alone, with my glasses on, in the darkness. I read somewhere that this film is really a horror film without the alien or monster—reality is monstrous enough. My reading of…

James K.A. Smith came to Dordt College this past week, bringing with him Augustinian desire, liturgical praxis, and Charles Taylor. It's the Charles Taylor piece that I find the most intriguing. Smith creatively wove together Taylor's insights on haunted secularity, the "cross pressures" of a…