Print this issueKerux interview: Eugene Peterson
Pastor, theologian, and translator of The Message (Part 1 of 2)
Over 10 million people have read The Message, Eugene Peterson’s rendition of the Bible in contemporary English language, since it was first published in 1993. The Message has won wide acclaim from pastors and lay people alike who have praised its readability and clarity. U2 lead singer Bono said The Message “brought the text back to the tone in which the books were written.” Peterson served as pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland for 29 years and is Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. In addition to translating The Message, he has written several books on discipleship and pastoral care, and is currently in the middle of writing a five volume series on spiritual theology.
Kerux Editor in Chief Christian Bell sat down with Peterson for nearly an hour prior to his January Series lecture earlier this year to discuss Biblical translation, preaching, seminary education, and church growth. This is the first of a two-part series.
Civil religion in the CRC?
While touring de Kolonie, the original Dutch colony in West Michigan, with the Christian Reformed Church History class, I was surprised by one of the displays I saw. There was an area that commemorated the veterans of various wars who were members of Graafschap CRC in Holland, Mich., where the museum is located, including some of the veterans who had carried President Lincoln's casket after he was assassinated. This display struck me as somewhat odd in a museum on the history of the CRC. As a Canadian, I began to wonder about the effect American patriotism has had on the CRC as a whole. While this was mulling around in my mind, we stopped by Pillar CRC in Holland, Mich. and there, right in the front of the church to the left of the pulpit, stood the American flag.
How I am a feminist
In my last article, I wrote that from a perspective of Reformed anthropology, I am constrained to be a feminist. The question for this article then is, “How I am a feminist?” In other words, how does an ideological, theological presupposition uniquely affect the way I interact with my world?
Newspaper people
A poem by Joyce Ten Have
CRC old and dying or new and growing?
On Sunday mornings my wife, Amy, and I drive from our home in Alger Heights to Jenison in order to attend Ridgewood CRC with my parents and younger brothers. A few weeks ago, and for no particular reason, we visited Alger Park CRC, located just a few blocks from our house. As I was sitting in the service at Alger I noticed many similarities between Alger and Ridgewood, questions began springing to my mind about the age dynamics of the congregations.
Yancey gives easy answers to hard questions about prayer
Have you ever been to a party where someone traps you with an endless barrage of circular anecdotes? Now imagine that you went to a lecture where the presentation went the same way: an eloquent man enthusiastically telling endless, unconnected stories that somewhat revolved around the spiritual discipline of prayer. With that image in your head, you understand exactly the event that took place on the evening of Oct. 20 at the Calvin College chapel when author Philip Yancey, currently touring for with his new book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, spoke on what he has learned in his research on prayer.
Editorial: Enjoying the fight?
Richard Dawkins is having a bad month. The infamous Oxford biologist had just gotten his latest book The God Delusion out to a great deal of [predictable] praise. Secularists might have thought that Dawkins had landed a crushing blow in the name of science and against religious thinking. But Dawkins’ writing enjoys no such pillar of unanimity among the great thinkers of the present day, and in the past weeks his book has fallen between the crosshairs of two well-respected critics.
2000 has past
A poem by Joyce Ten Have
Sem Eye: Where the rubber meets the sand
We all know evangelism is hard work. But what if we took a new approach where our beloved house-of-horrors comic books and Left Behind blockbuster motion pictures have failed? What if we could retire our tattered “The End is Nigh” sandwich boards and stop screaming incoherently at rushed passersby on their way to work and proclaim the good word in a sunnier locale? It’s time to take our outreach where it belongs: the beach!
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