Print this issueBlessings and curses
A reflection from Israel
The dove hung effortlessly in the rays of the setting Israeli sun. Stationary, wings outstretched into the western wind, it remained suspended in mid-air like an unruffled painting of a rose anchored in a hurricane.
Below it the world whipped in motion. Two soldiers with machine guns patrolled their barracks guarding the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh, with its commanding view of Biblical Shechem (contemporary Nablus) across a razor-wire fence in the valley below. A series of 20 radar stations surrounds the perimeter of the settlement. There is no wall – for ideological reasons. Walls concede territory even as they enclose it, suggesting that whatever claims are made for land within their arc, no claim is made on even the millimeters beyond. Such a suggestion is repugnant to Phinehas and other Israeli settlers. They will not give up a millimeter. Nor will their enemies.
The Josiah Initiative: The new porn club on campus
Recent surveys show that at least 50% of Christian men who responded admit to having viewed pornography recently, a Focus on the Family poll concluded that 47% percent of families said pornography is a problem in their home, and 38% of adults, according to a 2003 study conducted by Barna Research, believe there is nothing wrong with pornography use.
How does one introduce a topic that we never talk about – that we know very little about? A number of students and a few faculty members have decided it is high time to have an ongoing conversation concerning pornography and how it impacts Christ’s body.
Kerux interview: Eugene Peterson
Pastor, theologian, and translator of The Message (Part 2 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 second of a two-part series.
Stalin, Psalm, and salvation
Promenade down a prospekt in Moscow or Petersburg and you’re bound to come across granite and bronze impositions bearing the likeness of Vladimir Lenin. It’s hard not to recoil while gazing at the statues – the man was, after all, a nun killer, a liquidator of Orthodox clergy, and the sponsor of a famine (1921-22) that left some five million dead. One wonders, “Why keep the bastard around?” At one point, the statues surely were functional; they reminded Soviet citizens of who was in charge, who held the key to the worker’s utopia just beyond the horizon. But surely this idolatrous function of the statues is no more. Faith in Leninism is little more than an embarrassing relic, lauded only by inept leftist academics in highly-paid tenured positions and the odd college sophomore with a Che Guevara T-shirt.
The image of God, or 300 million angry faces?
“Anne is not a terrorist,” I want to explain.
We are transferring planes in Minneapolis, our port of entry to the U.S. Anne is searched randomly at the gate. Searched randomly at the first security checkpoint. Detained randomly in customs. Sent randomly back to immigration.
The customs agent is rude to the extreme: “Do you read English?” he bellows in the impatient and angry whine of a man on a power trip. He sounds unmistakably like someone rejected from the police academy as psychologically unfit for duty. He is proving why right now. The tongue is a world of fire.
An interview with the Reformation Day bandits
On October 31, 2006, students and faculty arrived at Calvin Theological Seminary to discover a mild case of vandalism. On each professor’s door was a half-sheet of paper – a thesis, if you will – attached, a la Martin Luther, with a nail. What were these theses, you ask? Further investigation revealed they were invitations to seminary professors to join a group of students at the Grand Rapids Brewing Company on Reformation night.
Kerux staff writer Meg Jenista caught up with one of the instigators of the so-called “2006 Reformation Day nailing incident” for an exclusive, anonymous interview.
Food pantry cook-off dishes up a good time
A feast for the whole CTS community was held on Friday in the Student Center. The Food Pantry Cook-Off, which was the brainchild of Marilyn Kralt, was a CTS event sponsored by the CTS Student Senate.
Sem Eye: Money, money, money!
Few things have the potential to tear a church apart like a budget crisis. As future pastors we seminarians are particularly vulnerable to the fickle whims of selfish parishioners, especially as the impending winter brings with it the promise of rising heating costs. How can you keep your flock’s cash out of their exorbitantly warm 67-degree homes and put it in the offering plate where it belongs? The answer, of course, is marketing.