Christian Living

Christians often strike me as the most Freudian of people. Say what you like, I have a sneaking suspicion that Freud, rather than Augustine, Luther, or Calvin, probably offers the best insights into the way that Christians really think and act. Let me explain with some examples. The other day I was...

J. I. Packer's endorsement of John Owen's treatment of sin in an introduction to the 1983, Multnomah Press edition of Owen's writings on sin, Sin and Temptation, contained the following effusive words: He told me how to understand myself as a Christian and live before God in a morally and...

"You know, ol' Bob is so heavenly minded that he is no earthly good." Perhaps, you have heard someone, in an effort to sound practical, say something like this. I suppose it is possible to be so focused on the sweet-by-and-by, that a sort of sanctimonious escapism seeps into one's Christianity...

When I stop to reflect on the beloved doctrines of the reformed and evangelical faith, I always find the doctrine of the Lordship of Christ among the most precious. Why? Simply put, it is the source of our salvation and the basis for our confidence in life and ministry. But more than this, the...

The Welsh have not (generally) adopted that legacy of Platonism in post-Renaissance culture, commonly called "the stiff upper-lip." The Welsh, you see, give voice to their complaints with reckless abandonment. Typical here is Wales's most famous twentieth century poet and writer, Dylan Thomas, in...

In an article in the Chicago Tribune this week, Jodi Cohen and Maegan Carberry discussed the case of Kate Darmody, a winning member of the National Championship Women's Lacrosse team from Northwestern University. She, along with her fellow players had been invited to the White House to meet the...

People know they're not supposed to stare, but sometimes they can't help it. You see, it isn't every day that people in our neighborhood see families with five children, and when they see us all walking down the street--or riding on a sled, like we did today in all the snow--they do tend to stare...

The Braves are playing poorly. Not that I'd notice too much. You see, it's my wife's love--baseball that is, not mine. And she has lost something of her joie de vivre . I try to console, but when those guys swing and miss all the time, it makes for an unhappy time. Baseball is her way of relaxation...

"The most significant lesson that desert dwellers can learn . . . is to regard themselves not as exiles from some better place, but as people at home in an environment to which life can be adjusted." When I was in Phoenix a few months ago, I had the opportunity to see the extraordinary plant...