Fred Sanders

These top ten lists are so fascinating to read, especially the lists that mingle great books with those admittedly not-so-great books that made a big dent on the list-maker at a certain age. Those lists are such quirky autobiographical documents.  They require an uncommon degree of self . . . . Continue Reading »

One of the many clichés of book titling is the “____ is a verb” trick. It’s supposed to grab your attention, be a little disorienting, and suggest that _____ is full of unexpected action and energy. For example, a quick search shows that “Life is a Verb,” . . . . Continue Reading »

What Christians usually do is, they read the Bible out loud and then preach a sermon about it.  That’s the normal, all-but-universal pattern around the world and back through Christian history. If you had to leave out one or the other,  I suppose you would keep the Bible reading and . . . . Continue Reading »

The news today is that Pope Benedict XVI is calling on priests to enter the blogosphere and upload their ministry. The official statement is “The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word.”Evangel readers probably don’t need much . . . . Continue Reading »

That’s right: Men. Not “Let us our songs employ,” or “Let all their songs employ,” but men.That’s how Isaac Watts wrote it back in the eighteenth century, when he wrote Joy to the World.This line gets changed from “men” to “us” or . . . . Continue Reading »

Just a pointer here to some wise thoughts posted recently by Steve Holmes, at his blog Shored Fragments.  Having opined in public previously on the question of what makes evangelical theology evangelical, he reports a recent breakthrough in his own thinking: It’s not so much a set of . . . . Continue Reading »

Well, anyway, Darwinism gets a rap. I’m not enough of a hip hop connoisseur to declare with any authority which rap is good and which is bad. But if you were thinking, “What I’d really like is to listen to the Origin of Species in rap format,” then Canadian rapper Baba . . . . Continue Reading »

The Evangelicals & Catholics Together gang have worked their way through a number of key doctrinal areas in recent years: salvation, Scripture, pro-life issues, Mary, etc.  Their thoughtful interactions have consistently shed light on the areas of agreement and disagreement between . . . . Continue Reading »

Grace, they say, is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. I don’t remember when I first heard that nifty mnemonic acrostic, but I know it was at a young age, and I don’t think I’ve outgrown it. It’s just a hook to hang some teaching on, and it’s a fine, sturdy . . . . Continue Reading »

Conversations about evangelicalism —its definition, its essence, its variety, its center and circumference, its history, its self-contradictions and periodic self-reinventions— are things I generally try to avoid.  The noise to signal ratio is too high, and the likelihood of talking . . . . Continue Reading »