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How I Prepared for My Doctoral Comps
Doctoral. Comprehensive. Examinations. Cue the late-night studying, caffeine addiction, panic sessions and ulcers. Well, not the ulcers. But just about everything else. The short story is: I passed! And the long story—for anyone interested in finding out—is how I prepared. Obviously, doctoral comps are going to differ widely, depending on your field of study, area…
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Fallen Kings
Mathematician and Christian apologist Blaise Pascal compares the human condition to the misery of a fallen king. If he had never been a king, he would not think that his now-humble life is miserable. (For a helpful explanation of this idea, see Douglas Groothuis’s article here). This analogy resonates with the Bible’s teaching that 1)…
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Absurdity or Purpose?
Albert Camus (1913-1960), author, journalist, and philosopher wrote: “Basically, at the very bottom of life, which seduces us all, there is only absurdity, and more absurdity. And maybe that’s what gives us our joy for living, because the only thing that can defeat absurdity is lucidity.” These words come close to expressing the theme we…
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God Will Bring Everything Into Judgment
The aim of Solomon’s quest—to find that comprehensive, personally-satisfying, perspective from which life will make complete sense—could never be achieved. And because eternity is “in our heart,” we can’t stop searching. This is why Solomon calls this search a “sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith” (1:13; also…
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Reading the Book of Ecclesiastes
The journey toward completing my dissertation on the apologetic approach of Blaise Pascal has often reminded me of the book of Ecclesiastes. There are so many similarities between Pascal’s apologetics and Solomon’s reflection on the vanity of life without God. Both reflect on our bewildering sinful human nature. Both compellingly urge us to turn to…
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The Danger of Christian Worldview
I have a lot of interest in Christian worldview. From a strictly financial, personal perspective, that interest has carried a hefty price tag (the cost of my degree in Apologetics and Worldviews). Let this cost alone speak for me: I am an advocate of a Christian worldview. But I also believe that there is a danger associated with a Christian…
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James Orr: Pioneer in Weltanschuuang
As David Naugle explains in his book Worldview: The History of a Concept, James Orr stands as a pioneer in using the concept of Weltanschuuang to commend the Christian faith. Orr recognized something that many of his peers didn’t—that fighting with secular ideologies over particular truth claims was not gaining ground for the reason that these…
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Preaching with Style: Advice from Strunk and White
I’ll admit that my title was a bit of click-bait. I don’t mean “style” in the sense of flair or fashion, but in the sense intended by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White in their little book The Elements of Style. In the final chapter “An Approach to Style,” Strunk and White discuss the…
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How to Prepare Sermons: John Stott’s Six Steps
The task of preaching God’s Word remains a constant challenge and joy to me. One of the books that has most shaped my approach to preparation is John Stott’s Between Two Worlds. In particular, his chapter “Preparing Sermons” provides a roadmap for the journey from Scripture text to delivering the sermon. Stott concedes that sermon…
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The Pillar and Support of the Truth
Imagine Timothy–the Apostle Paul’s son in the faith, and young pastor of the church in Ephesus–walking through his city on an errand. Maybe he’s paying a tax, or getting supplies to a widow. Wherever he’s going, there’s a sight in Ephesus he couldn’t possibly overlook. Dominating the view of the Ephesus is a massive temple—the Artemision.…
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