“We know,” says 1 John 2:3, “that we have come to know [God] if we keep his commands.” In Hearers & Doers, Kevin Vanhoozer equips pastors to teach the dynamic relationship between doctrine and discipleship, between transformed minds and transformed ways. “Theology,” he writes, “sets out the new reality in Christ and urges disciples to step into it—in other words, to step out in faith, with understanding, on the Way of Jesus Christ. Theology has acquired a bad reputation largely because theologians have not always made it clear how practical—how good for [faithful] walking—it is.”
Our immersion in social media profoundly shapes how we see ourselves and our neighbors, both for good and for ill. In Always On, Truett Theological Seminary’s Angela Williams Gorrell reflects on the challenges of living faithfully in a digital media landscape that manifests “both glorious possibilities and profound brokenness.” At their best, she writes, social media platforms can offer “sites and instruments of God’s unconditional love.” But when they are “developed and used for damaging purposes,” they can easily breed “malign circumstances, harmful practices, and destructive feelings,” all while promoting “malformed visions of what the good life is.”
Asked once about the source of his political convictions, Franklin D. Roosevelt labeled himself “a Christian and a Democrat,” words that supply the title for this biography from the late church historian John Woolverton. (After Woolverton’s death in 2014, fellow historian James Bratt shepherded his manuscript to publication.) FDR typically kept close-lipped about his religious beliefs, but Woolverton identifies writings and addresses, including his 1944 D-Day prayer, that reveal an inner reservoir of Christian commitment. The president’s faith, he writes, “was not a mere civil religion but a personal faith that had strong resonance because of the neat fit between his Episcopal heritage and the broad contours of American political culture.”
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
As my doubts about his teachings grew, so did a secret fascination with Jesus.
We must always be people of the Word, but we’ll have to reimagine deep engagement with Scripture.
