Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power by Andy Crouch (InterVarsity Press, 2013). I think many of us have developed our understanding of power from Lord Acton's axiom: Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. For most of us, that is the end of story and this accounts, at least among many Christians I know, for a deep aversion to anything like the exercise of power. … [Read more...] about Book Review: Playing God, by Andy Crouch
Playing God
Devotions: Beatitudes — Poverty of Spirit
You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. -- Matthew 5:3, The Message Our culture today believes in fame for fame's sake. -- Actor Rob Lowe, Radio Interview, June 12, 2014. Jesus in his introductory sermon gives us a new way of behaving in the kingdom of God. Rather than the kingdom of power, fame, greed, and possession, Jesus teaches an "upside down" kingdom of poverty of spirit, of practical mourning, meekness, desire for true righteousness, … [Read more...] about Devotions: Beatitudes — Poverty of Spirit
Missionaries Changed the World Once – Can they do it again?
The topic of a recent cover story in Christianity Today is shaking up not only the world of missions, but also academia. The World the Missionaries Made is a report on the work of Robert Woodberry, a sociologist currently researching at the Political Science Department of the National University of Singapore. CT's Executive Editor Andy Crouch calls it the CT cover story of which he is most proud. Its thesis and Woodberry's work support a remarkable conclusion – that a generation of “conversionary protestant … [Read more...] about Missionaries Changed the World Once – Can they do it again?
Imagebearer: Flourishing
I confess being quite excited to board Amtrak at 5:17 am in Elizabethtown, PA, to travel to the Big Apple to hear Andy Crouch, Executive Editor for Christianity Today, present material from his new InterVarsity Press release Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power. As some of you know, the Emerging Scholars Network has not only highlighted Crouch's earlier InterVarsity Press publication Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling (2008) in various posts, but also featured Culture Making as the focal point … [Read more...] about Imagebearer: Flourishing