1 May 2024 | We all read the Bible through the lens of our knowledge and experience. As a geneticist and biologist, I have often discovered that texts that were otherwise baffling come to life when applying some of the things I know about genetics. One of the most obvious examples involves the deal that […]
24 April 2024 | Human history is a gallery of the birth of religions as well as a graveyard of vanished religions. Some religions died in antiquity and others have flourished. At the macro level, how do religions perpetuate themselves? Are there specific elements that contribute to the endurance of a religion in changing times […]
17 April 2024 | What is the essence of a community? Or more specifically, of a faith community? It is, first of all, a group of believers, where faith is lived in a daily commitment to Christ, to our brothers and sisters in the faith, and the people around us who need us. How does an Adventist congregation […]
10 April 2024 | TRIGGER WARNING The topic of sexual abuse in the Christian church has not abated after being brought to greater public attention in the twentieth century. With the legal system involved in cases of abuse, light has been shed on the suffering of both adults and children based on their traumatic experiences. […]
4 April 2024 | In recent years, renewed attention has been given to the role of the Old Testament Apocrypha for Ellen White and early Adventism in general. It turns out that many Adventists, including Ellen White herself, believed those non-canonical books contained in the middle of their KJV Bibles were important and even inspired. […]
27 March 2024 | In recognition of March as Women’s History Month, it is worthwhile to look at the earliest biblically recorded women’s rights movement and the culture which, to this day, affects attitudes, policies, and the experiences of many women. The daughters of Zelophehad asserted their rights, and Moses, under God’s counsel, honored their […]
20 March 2024 | Some Bible stories are so familiar that we not only know them by heart, we know the lessons we’re supposed to take from them. The stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are some of the more familiar. In re-reading these stories a few years ago, I came across a character whose […]
14 March 2024 | When suicide happens, people are shocked. There is disbelief, if not outright denial. While this true for almost any news of death – it is part of a natural grief reaction — in cases of suicide the reaction appears to be stronger, deeper, and far more difficult to handle. Suicide is […]
6 March 2024 | While George Ide Butler is not a household name among Adventists today, that was not true for those who lived in the second half of the 1800s. Twice president of the General Conference, Butler is probably better known for aggressively resisting A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner at the 1888 […]
28 February 2024 | The socio-political movements of the last years have shifted the spotlight of our private and public discussions to different well-established ‘others’ both inside and outside our faith communities. We have been challenged to poke our thought patterns and test our societal practices; invited to practice greater inclusivity whilst maintaining diversity; pushed to identify […]
21 February 2024 | The imagery of Revelation has fascinated and challenged Christians for centuries. Most—including Adventists—came to see these as predictions of events throughout history and anticipations of present realities or current entities. This is especially true of Seventh-day Adventists’ self-proclaimed status as the Remnant Church. Central to this self-understanding is the historic Adventist […]
14 February 2024 | Few Adventists would doubt the bonafides of the late Richard Hammill (Andrews University president and world-church education leader) or former General Conference (GC) president R.R. Fighur. However, the Adventism of these towering thought-leaders couldn’t be more different in ethos from widely respected GC presidents such as R.H. Pierson and current GC […]