Apprentice 2 Jesus

Culture

  • The sound of grief

    There is a podcast I listen to on a fairly regular basis called “Pass the Mic.” It’s two younger black Christians, one working on his PhD in history and the other a pastor of a church, who reflect on theology and the issues around Black Christians in American society. Read more

  • Consistent Life Ethic

    If there is something I’ve tried to work on over the years, it would be a philosophy of a “whole life ethic.” It turns out there is a framework for that called “Consistent Life Ethic.” It is truly my life goal to say, “No one is more ‘pro-life’ than me outside of the pope.” Read more

  • Pushing labels, rejecting labels

    We have tendencies to get people “slotted” into our categories so we decide quickly if they are “in” or “out” to us. Read more

  • Confronting our misconceptions about “the poor”

    We may have heard these generalizations about the poor, or held them ourselves. (Or, still hold them.) — They are lazy and uneducated.— They chose to be poor. They could pick themselves up by their bootstraps and get out of it if they really wanted. — The poor are the government’s responsibility. — It’s their… Read more

  • Being truly “evangelical”

    “Evangelical” in American cultural usage right now is a term that is full of landmines. Michael Gerson, an evangelical writer, is a voice that calls out the challenges often. In a current column with the Washington Post, he reminds readers of what true evangelicals used to be like: Read more

  • The Coddling of the American Mind: Is there any HOPE?

    The picture painted in The Coddling of the American Mind is harsh. We’ve truly had a lot go wrong and we’ve put a lot of fear and anxiety into our lives, and much of it that is unnecessary. Is there any hope? They give some ideas, thankfully. First, start with childhood. Colleges definitely need work… Read more

  • Freedom to play helps democracy

    The term a few years ago was “helicopter parenting.” I’m not sure if there is a new phrase. There has to be in some cases, because it can be witnessed that parents are a LOT closer to their kids and their activities than a helicopter. Read more

  • Anxiety in the age of social media

    Our current era of high anxiety has been fed directly by our addiction to social media. It has given social media hackers and experts all the fuel they need to exploit and manipulate an entire culture in ways we would laugh at a generation or two ago. Read more

  • The balkanization of the United States

    When the Soviet Union was collapsing in the last 1980s, I read an article in The Atlantic about a region I’d never heard of: the Balkans. In that article, the writer told a tale I found fantastic and almost unbelievable. His contention was that during the Cold War, it was good for the U.S. and… Read more

  • Current reading and listening

    From time to time I like to look back on what I’ve been reading in articles, commentaries, etc., along with podcasts. Read more