Topics, Issues, Questions & News

I am delighted to announce that George Fox University will launch the inaugural Eclectic Texts Conference (ETC), a two-day event aimed at combining popular cultural texts with academic research. Our inaugural ETC will consider Taylor Swift as “The Voice of an Age”. 

It’s Hard to Write a Novel about Jesus

Audio, New Ideas and Research, Published Writing, The Bible, Victorian Studies, Video

My first book looks at how Victorian novelists explored the Incarnation through fiction. In doing so, they shifted the focus from what Jesus did to who Jesus was: a real man in real history.

Literate But Not Literary: Learning to Re-Read the Bible

Audio, Reading Well, The Bible, Video

Being literate but not literary is a problem that plagues readers of the Bible. Watch & Listen as I explain why using a re-reading of the Binding of Isaac in Genesis 22 as an example.

I need your help to get a new book published… #ChristianBookKickstarter

Fostering Faith, New Ideas and Research, News, Reading Well, The Bible, The Christian Imagination

My new book: Fandoms & Faithful Reading, is coming-out via Substack! BUT, I need your help (with a few clicks) to get it published to a wider audience in a traditional book format.

Have Christians profoundly misunderstood the Pharisees?

Book Review, Reading Well, The Bible

Have Christians profoundly misunderstood the Pharisees? What if they were actually insightful and humane interpreters of scripture, breaking down barriers between the Temple and the populace because they believed holiness was for everyone, not just the elite?

God with Us

Living the Liturgical Year, Published Writing, The Bible

Mary’s son was not the first time God dwelt with humans. An Advent Reading originally published in George Fox Universities’ Advent Project 2021.

[NOW on Netflix] Exploring Nella Larsen’s “Passing”: A Conversation about Race in America with Bryce Coefield

College Classes, Reading Well, Video

Nella Larsen’s novel Passing is now in movie form on Netflix. Use these recorded conversations as a watching/reading companion to the movie and/or novel, as you think about race in America.

Is the Bible Safe for Sunday School?

Fostering Faith, Raising Christian Kids, Reading Well, The Bible

Christianity…particularly Protestant Christianity…and particularly Evangelical Christianity claims to take the Bible “seriously.” Yet, we seldom trust the text, particularly the harder passages, and particularly when our children are involved.

Celebrating a Badass Princess: Esther & the Feast of Purim

Fostering Faith, Raising Christian Kids, Reading Well, The Bible

[Guest Post] A 10 Year old girl inhabits Esther’s story as we celebrate a two-day holiday dedicated to a girl whose courage and determination saved herself and her people.

Advent Rite & Prayers for Families Worshipping Together @ Home during Covid-19

Fostering Faith, Living the Liturgical Year, Raising Christian Kids

Join our family with this prayer this Advent season, as we wait in the darkness, as we cry out for salvation, and as we continue in that certain hope that God will rend the heavens and come down among us.

Backstory Pt 3-of-3: Practicing Sabbath

Fostering Faith, Living the Liturgical Year, Raising Christian Kids, The Bible

My families’ journey to Practicing Sabbath… I watched as my daughter set the table and chose the nicest hand-painted plates. Upon finishing her work she smiled and said, “There, now we’re ready to welcome our special time.”

Backstory Pt 2-of-3: Remember the Sabbath Day, keep it holy…

Fostering Faith, Living the Liturgical Year, Raising Christian Kids, The Bible

My children dust, vacuum, clean the bathrooms, and do all the laundering every Friday morning just because they are so committed to PRACTICING SABBATH together. How did this happen?
It all began when my kids started discovered the 10 Commandments, or the 4th one at least.

Backstory Pt 1-of-3: Bats & the Bible (how our family started practicing Sabbath)

Fostering Faith, Living the Liturgical Year, Raising Christian Kids, The Bible

“You mean, if all those stupid people…had only…been smart and…listened to God….and done what the Bible said…then I wouldn’t have to stay home? Read the full story of my son discovering that bats aren’t kosher and how that is changing our family rhythms.

Teaching Challenge: Create Lectures that make Students want to Read the Book! Six (short) Video’s on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

College Classes, Reading Well, Teaching and Academic Design, Video

So, how does a teacher guide students through at book—through (hopefully) engaging and entertaining videos — in a way that encourages thinking, that is encourages students to read, reflect, and respond rigorously without the classroom?

Focus on the Family or It Takes a Village? Raising Children to Follow Jesus

Fostering Faith, Raising Christian Kids

Francis Chan reportedly told listeners “I hear in a lot of churches they’ve got to meet together again because of our kids… if [the parents] are not equipped, then figure it out and man up.”

What does it mean to be blessed? and what was Jacob wrestling for?

Serving the Church, The Bible

Depending on how you look at it, Jacob is a pretty lucky man… He’s become rich off the herds of his father-in-law Laban. He has 2 wives, 2 concubines, and many children. His household is marked by wealth. If this isn’t blessing, what is?

Remembering Dr. J.I. Packer

Fostering Faith, News

On a Friday in 2007 I sat beside Jim Packer in a small Chinese Restaurant in Vancouver, Canada. I had no idea what I’d say to someone who, till the...

The binding of Isaac & the dance between Faithfulness & Righteousness

Serving the Church, The Bible

A Homily for the St. Michael – San Miguel Episcopal Church in Newberg, Oregon. Lessons from the Lectionary readings for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost.