John G. Stackhouse Jr.'s Blog, page 42

Great Sale for Students from Baylor University Press

My friend Dr Carey Newman has revolutionized Baylor University Press, ‘way down yonder in Waco, Texas, into a powerhouse of a place. This morning I received this news that I am glad to pass along: 50% Discount for Grad Students … Continued

Jesus of the Scars

Perhaps no war left so many veterans alive but horribly scarred as did the First World War, that war of gases and incendiaries, bayonets and machine guns, cavalry and tanks, swords and snipers, trenches and barbed wire. Rev. Edward Shillito … Continued

“Warning: May Contain Peanuts”: Trigger Warnings, Pedagogy, and Common Sense

I wish there had been a “trigger warning” during my music history course in 1980. I was finishing my undergraduate degree at Queen’s University and was enjoying a year-long “history of western music” survey at the Queen’s Conservatory. As we … Continued

Goodreads Giveaway of “Need to Know”

Good ol’ Goodreads and my generous publisher are combining to let you avoid the really quite paltry price of my new book by entering this giveaway. IT STARTS TODAY. Here’s the widget (I trust) that will get you to the … Continued

No “God of the Gaps”…in Life

This post carries on from the last one: God is not our “everything.” God made us, in fact, with lots of needs that must be filled in lots of ways. So what about those who long for a spouse…and don’t have … Continued

Actually, No, You Are NOT “My Everything”

Robert Louis Wilken’s magisterial study of The Spirit of Early Christian Thought concludes, as it ought, with the highest of concerns among the Fathers: love of God. Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine of Hippo, Maximus the Confessor—they all tell us to “transfer our … Continued

Heaven, Hell, and Everything In Between

We have just added a new course to our summer offerings on “Heaven, Hell, and Everything In Between.” And I’ll be teaching it. Here are some questions to which I’ll be responding that week: • Why is nobody going to heaven? … Continued

Resurrection…to More of the Same?

So it’s the day after Easter Sunday. Let’s suppose that you had died and been raised from the dead. Yesterday was the big celebration of the astonishing gift of “another life,” as they say in video games. How will you spend … Continued

Holy Week Posts

Over the last few years, I’ve posted several reflections pertinent to Holy Week. Some of you (especially those of you preparing sermons!) might be glad to have them rounded up: On Providence, including the Garden of Gethsemane: here On Good Friday … Continued

The Hard Work of Prayer

Here is a lovely passage from the sprightly, charming, and ruthlessly honest testimony of English writer Jane Christmas as she considers, in her fifties, whether to become a nun, And Then There Were Nuns (Greystone, 2013). It challenges me each time … Continued