Engaging the Culture, Changing the World

Category Archives: Hope

Are We Less Violent Than Ever?

January 4, 2012

Stephen Pinker, the Harvard professor who a few years ago famously and fiercely opposed anything having to do with “faith” in Harvard’s revision of its core curriculum, has written a new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. The book has become much-quoted and much-reviewed and is worth our attention.

Saying Merry Christmas Downtown

December 19, 2011

I have become subversive. I have begun to say Merry Christmas in downtown Seattle, on airplanes, in the grocery store. I have no need whatsoever to be offensive to my Jewish friends, to Muslims, or to the ardent secularists who seek to control our public language.

How Can We Sing the Lord’s Song in a Foreign Land?

September 6, 2011

This is the question the Psalmist asks. This is the question for all Christians in our post-Christian world. This is the question I ask myself all the time.

The Problem of Pain and God’s Good Assurance

June 27, 2011

“It is what it is” — I have so often found myself using this phrase. We all use it from time to time. I suppose it is something like saying “roll with the punches,” or perhaps “let the chips fall,” or “stuff happens.”