We are getting ready to leave for Korea and Japan tomorrow. My main assignment on this trip is to deliver the first Underwood Lectures. This lectureship has been established by the oldest Protestant congregration in Korea, the Saemoonan Presbyterian Church, in cooperation with New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Horace Underwood, a graduate of New Brunswick, arrived […]
I have been preparing a lecture on “seeker sensitive” preaching, and I decided to try to match wits a bit with Karl Barth. I remember reading Barth on the subject of preaching, where he insisted that sermons should not have either introductions or conclusions. I decided to re-read Barth on the subject, to refresh my own memory...
In their Reveal report, the folks at Willow Creek have taken a critical look at their own effectiveness in ministry. It is a fine example of public self-critique. A key finding is that a significant portion of their membership complains that their spiritual growth has been "stalled" in the Willow Creek context. This has led the leadership...
During this past October, 138 Muslim leaders released a letter that they had sent to Pope Benedict, calling for cooperation between Christians and Muslims in working to lessen tensions between the two religious communities. Of special interest was their clear critique of those who resort to violence in pursuing their religious aims: “To those who nevertheless relish...
We’ve been having conversations recently with laypeople—folks who support theological education—about how Fuller Seminary can respond effectively to the needs of local congregations. One topic that gets raised constantly is preaching. One woman put it bluntly: “Give us better preachers!”
I actually like the preaching I hear on a regular basis in...
Recently we hosted a celebration at Fuller Seminary of the life and mission of the late David Allan Hubbard, who served as Fuller’s president from 1963 to 1993. In our chapel service that day we sang several of David’s favorite hymns, and his love of hymns loomed large in the tributes to his marvelous leadership.
My...
Sorting through a pile of things on my desk this past weekend, I came across a brief report that I had set aside a few months ago, about a statement that Pope Benedict had issued in support of World Tourism Day. “I hope that tourism will increasingly promote dialogue and respect between cultures,” he had declared, “thereby...
At a convention of ethicists a week ago, I attended an intriguing presentation about capital punishment. The interesting–and disturbing–part of it for me was the overview presented, by a legal expert, on the actual practice of putting prisoners to death. He offered documentation of the fact that things often go wrong in actual executions. The process does...
The first philosophy course I ever taught was in a university department where there were textbooks that were prescribed by the department for all introductory courses. I had to begin the course, then, lecturing on materials in a book of readings from the pre-Socratic philosophers. Actually “readings” is a bit of an exaggeration. Most of what we...
Gene Autry’s rendition of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was a hot item when it was released for the Christmas season in 1949. One of my aunts bought me a “45” record of it, and I played it so much my parents threatened to throw it away. By now I have long gotten tired of hearing...
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