Occasionally I get to teach Missions History, and one time I was able to teach Church History. As I reflect on these topics, I am struck again by the shocking lack of respect given to the missions movement(s) of the Eastern Church in the first millennium (primarily) and to a lesser extent in the second …
Continue reading Missions History of the East– Can These Bones Live?
You may want to look at Part 1 of this Post Pottery is big in the Bible. No surprise since pottery was highly useful (as it is now) and was pretty high tech. Having taken a class in high temperature materials back in my mechanical engineering days, I can confirm that pottery-making/ceramics is still high-tech. …
Continue reading Kintsukuroi Faith: Beautifully Broken. Part 2
Kintsukuroi is a Japenese word for "Golden Repair." It is related to another Japanese term,Kintsugi ("Golden joinery"). It refers to pottery repair. The repair has two purposes: a. To restore something that is both physically and functionally broken. b. To increase beauty by enhancing the break lines rather than seeking to hid them. Before applying …
Continue reading Kintsukuroi Faith: Beautifully Broken. Part I
"The universe, open to the eye to-day, looks as it did a thousand years ago: and the morning hymn of Milton does but tell the beauty with which our own familiar sun dressed the earliest fields and gardens of the world. We see what all our fathers saw. And if we cannot find God in …
Continue reading “The Customs of Heaven” Quote of James Martineau
The Philippines gets bombarded with all sorts of theories as to what is “Christian” when it comes to psychology, pastoral care, and counseling. In truth, anybody from the West (or East) with the ability to make words with their mouth eventually comes to the Philippines to share their lack of insight with others. During the …
Continue reading The Devil and the First Church of Job’s Friends
I will be teaching "History of Missions" again this coming term at Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary (www.pbts.net.ph). It is one of my favorite classes. I have yet to figure out how to get my students to share that interest. I don't really want to fall into the "just show another video" mode. This uninteresting fact …
Continue reading Learning Nothing from the Past in Three Beautiful Ways
My dad used to like to say "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." This bit of wisdom is something lost on Christians often. It seems to me that many of us have been seduced by the false promises of argument. My son, Joel, was on the debate team at …