I decided to make some minor updates to my book, "Dialogue in Diversity: Christians in Conversation with a Multi-faith World" during quarantine. I decided to put the Introduction here. Imagine that you have a toolbox. Maybe you are a carpenter, but in your toolbox you have only one tool — perhaps a hammer. Can you …
Month: May 2020
Can Bad Theology Kill?
Many years (decades) ago I read the book, "The History of Anti-Semitism" by Leon Poliakov. I found the book thoroughly fascinating. A section that was especially interesting to me was Spain shortly after 1492, the Fall of Granada. Christian Spain had driven out the last Muslim stronghold from Western Europe. Of course when so much …
It Takes a Network to Make Missions Work
Back in May 2005, we had an opportunity to do a ministry project with the market kids of Baguio City, Philippines, The market kids (also known as “batang palengke” or “plastic boys”) are children who work in the public open market in the center of Baguio City. They sell plastic bags for the shoppers, offer …
COVID Musings
The following is the Conclusions of the book I finished during COVID-19 quarantine here in the Philippines. The book is Missions in Samaria. Conclusions I am writing this during the COVID-19 pandemic. On one side the disease drives us apart. It places us in our own homes, physically distanced and masked. We may live in …
The Cheshire Church
The following is a quote from the book by James F. Engle and William A. Dyrness, "Changing the Mind of Missions: Where Have We Gone Wrong?" (InterVarsity Press, 2000). Who can fault legendary evangelist Dwight L. Moody, who captured the mood of evangelicals at the end of the nineteenth century in his declaration, "I look …
… Not Inspire Them with a Passion for Political Change.
There has been an enduring belief that Christian missionaries, during the colonial era, often served as de facto operatives of the colonial powers. It is understandable why this belief would exist and persist. British missionaries, for example, would commonly serve in lands that were under the British flag. Commonly, but not always, being a British …
Continue reading … Not Inspire Them with a Passion for Political Change.
Man of the Sun
Man of the Sun. That was his name--- ironic that he had not seen the sun in many months, and would never see it again. A cruel joke of a name. But there were many cruel jokes. People would listen to his every word with deep reverence. Now he was a laughingstock. His fabled strength …