How To Cultivate a Quiet Soul in a Busy World

Busyness masks our insecurities. We rush. We want the quickest line in the grocery story, instant access to our news and movies, information at our fingertips, and food served hot and fast. We hurry to accomplish things and when we do, we don’t have time to savor the triumph because we’ve got to hurry to prove ourselves again. (I particularly relate to this with respect to academic publishing. By the time an article publishes I’m already researching the next project, needing to demonstrate again my prowess as a philosopher).

Why a Theology of Food Beats a New Year’s Resolution

Barely two weeks into the new year and I blew it. Ugh! I hate dieting. As my wife and family will attest, I have a huge sweet tooth. When the sum total of my intake for the day is a green smoothie, a couple apples, and some crackers, it is hard to resist the temptation to binge when the late afternoon hunger hits. Rules don’t help: “watch what you eat, count your calories, exercise daily, blah, blah, blah.”

My Favorite Books of 2015

Developing intellectual virtue in an Internet age challenges me. The beep, swish or yelp of an incoming email, Facebook message, or the favoriting of a Tweet constantly pull my eyes, and with it, my heart, into the mediated world of the smart phone.

Christ my past, present, and future

As a Christ follower, I am not defined by my past failures. Nor am I defined by my present projects. My hope is not in my future accomplishments. The good news of the gospel—the greatest possible story of the world—is that I am part of something much bigger than myself. Christianity is true, and so I find the source of all truth in Christ. Christianity is good, and so I find the source of all goodness in Christ. Christianity is beautiful, and so my heart is filled with joy as I become captivated by the glory of Christ.

Apologetics as Dance

In this sound-bite age, engaging in thoughtful dialogue with others about issues that matter most is difficult. We lack patience. We want morsels of knowledge packaged in 240 character epigrams. Rarely do we know what we believe about God, the world, or self. Even more rare is knowing why we believe what we believe. For those of us who are Christians—and know what this means and why it is true—the question becomes: how does the gospel get a fair hearing in the age of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram? How can we engage others in a conversation about things that matter most in such a way that progress is made toward truth?

Talks

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Favorite Books of 2024

January 3, 2025

As is now my custom, I am excited to list my favorite reads of 2024, in the categories of philosophy, apologetics/theology, spiritual formation, fiction, and non-fiction. I read 44 books in 2024. For each book read, I enter the date completed, title, author, and a one sentence summary of the book in my book log. Here are the top three books for each category.

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Favorite Books of 2023

January 1, 2024

Fueled by the conviction that stories sustain us because we were made to be nourished on the good, the true, and the beautiful, I determined to read one fiction book a month for this past year. And I read some very good stories! In addition to fiction, I have benefitted greatly this year from some solid works in philosophy, theology, biography, and spiritual formation. Without further ado, here are my favorite books read in 2023. As is custom, in my book log, I record the book title, author, and date completed, along with a one sentence description. This has been my practice since 2009. My book log now includes 635 entries. This year I read 43 books.

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Favorite Books of 2022

January 3, 2023

I love to read. Of course, being a professor helps. I get to read as part of my job. That’s good. But I also love to read for the sheer pleasure of it. When it comes to fiction, I love entering into secondary worlds and journeying along with the characters of the story. Often non-fiction reads like a good story too: life is life, story is story, and often the two kiss (a loose paraphrase of one of my favorite nonfiction stories of the year, All that is Sad is Untrue). (more…)

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