22 January 2025 | Heaven is something we sing about and paint pictures of. Sometimes we imagine what it will be like. It’s a good theme for children’s stories. But the biblical descriptions aren’t especially detailed. In the Old Testament, heaven has to do with animals and vineyards, while in Revelation, heaven is a wealthy […]
8 January 2025 | What is it that happens when we come together for a “church service”? What should happen? Church members are regularly encouraged to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together” (Heb. 10:25). But what are we supposed to do when what we experience there seems to be so far removed from our needs? When […]
8 January 2025 | As Christian nationalism gains momentum, competing groups claim Dietrich Bonhoeffer as their champion. Yet the real Bonhoeffer story offers a striking warning about how faith becomes entangled with nationalism that many seem to miss. I will seek to cut through the mythology—from Hollywood films to politicized biographies—to examine how Bonhoeffer witnessed […]
1 January 2025 | The doctrine of the investigative judgment (particularly when expressed in metaphors regarding the sanctuary and day of atonement) is regarded by many as one of the three major pillars of Adventist identity. It has shaped the way we Adventists understand ourselves and our special mission. But it has for a long […]
26 December 2024 | The New Testament contains only two accounts of the birth of Jesus, both dating to the 80s of the 1st century of the Christian Era. The first is in Matthew (1:18–2:23). the second in Luke (1:45a, 36–38; 2:1–40). Although these accounts are very different, for most of Christian history, including today, they […]
18 December 2024 | Raising questions about what inspiration means is not new. Do you ever wonder how inspiration worked in a prophet? And were all biblical prophets inspired in the same way? In fact, are there different levels of inspiration? Take, for example, the narratives of the life of Jesus, or of the kings […]
11 December 2024 | How do we recognize the presence of God and the Holy Spirit—in the world, our communities, and ourselves? Is it an intellectual pursuit, an emotional encounter, or the fullness of life’s experience? Eduard Schweizer reminds us in The Holy Spirit that “we cannot capture him in anything like a mathematical formula.” Similarly, Clark […]
4 December 2024 | The world’s fragility is precarious and keenly felt, and the election of Donald Trump brings increasing unpredictability. Yet two things seem certain. First, the United States, the leading economy in the world, is likely to shift from a stance of climate change denial to climate change defiance. This is bad news […]
27 November 2024 | What do you imagine when you think of a winsome and attractive church? You probably imagine a church where people are well-dressed and classy, every child is well-behaved and every adult thoughtful and attentive. Yet the real church isn’t like that. You have likely met some very unusual people in church. […]
20 November 2024 | It is not easy being the church. I am increasingly reminded of the humanity that accompanies our being a connected community of faith. I observe increasing worries over orthodoxy, anxiety around behaviors, reaction to secular culture, and exercise of power or control. No, it is not easy being church. Certainly an […]
13 November 2024 | Three weeks ago, October 22, 2024, marked 180 years since the Great Disappointment. The pioneers—James White, Joseph Bates, Loughborough, and others—would be aghast that we are still on earth 180 years later. Ellen White died 109 years ago. Over and over, from the American Civil War onward, Adventist writers have interpreted […]
6 November 2024 | Since the 19th century, Adventists have regarded Roman Catholics as enemies. In this, they were not unlike many American Protestants: anti-Catholicism was common in Protestant America—not least because the many poor Catholic immigrants who were flooding into American cities led to a reactionary nativism. In this class, Dr. Bruinsma will recap […]