PinnedStrength from the Living WatersOver a year ago, a friend offered me a chance to spend nine days at a cabin in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains of Washington. The cabin was a beautiful place to stay but the main attraction was a forested lake that my friend called “Living Waters.” I opened…Outdoors13 min readOutdoors13 min read
PinnedDeceptive Documentary Portrays Evangelicals as Repugnant OtherEvangelical Christians have been a convenient bogeyman in American society since the 1920s when journalist H.L. Mencken assailed their fundamentalist ancestors during the Scopes Monkey Trial, describing them as “vermin” who were able to enjoy the fruits of modernity created by their intellectual superiors whom they hated. “The so-called religious…Evangelism10 min readEvangelism10 min read
Feb 4, 2022The Pinch Point is Upon UsFor the past 17 years I’ve been struggling to understand a troubling phenomenon manifesting itself in American public life. For the life of me, I haven’t been able to understand why many progressive Jews in America express shame over the actions of Israel while so many young Arabs and Muslims…10 min read10 min read
Feb 3, 2022Envy of Cain is Crouching at the Door[T]he conflict between Church and Synagogue is fundamentally an expression of fraternal strife. I would hasten to add that one of the problems perennially bedeviling the Judeo-Christian encounter has been the fact that there has been too much rather than too little brotherhood. After all, the first brothers were fated…Israel4 min readIsrael4 min read
Jan 10, 2022A Preliminary Response to David Crump’s Book on Christian ZionismNote: Wipf and Stock, a publishing house that recently re-published Stephen Sizer’s Zion’s Christian Soldiers? after InterVarsity Press dropped the text from its catalogue because of the author’s egregious hostility toward Israel, has recently published another book by another author who is equally hostile to the Jewish state. The text…Anti Israel6 min readAnti Israel6 min read
Nov 22, 2021Fishing With an Open Mind — and Narrower BoatsSuzanne Altenburger is the woman with the German accent and a formidable, intimidating gaze who has been a fixture at public meetings regarding fishery management in New England for close to two decades. …Commercial Fishing10 min readCommercial Fishing10 min read
Dec 28, 2020Neither Saviors Nor Demons, But Neighbors — Just NeighborsA long time ago, I was in a city called Bukavu preparing to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in a country that was then called Zaire and is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On a weekend walk into the city, I walked past a church…Covenant15 min readCovenant15 min read
Nov 22, 2020The WeanlingAs the sky darkens and thunder is heard from off in the distance, villagers continue in their afternoon activities. Children dawdle noisily on their way home from school. Mothers pound manioc roots into flour, making tshump-tshump sounds with their mortars and pestles. …Africa5 min readAfrica5 min read
Nov 14, 2020HackI was helping the old man sitting next to me find the prayer in the church program when I heard the cough. It made me jump out of my seat and then recoil in disgust as it echoed through the sanctuary. …Church11 min readChurch11 min read
Nov 12, 2020Last CommunionDear Son, I just finished my last session of radiation therapy this morning and am now in a healing period. The radiation is like being cooked on the inside by a microwave oven. The son stood in the doorway. In his pocket he grasped a letter that he had gotten…Death And Dying3 min readDeath And Dying3 min read
