obedience

January 23, 2014

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the search for Christian freedom

While imprisoned by the Nazis at Tegel military prison, and shortly after learning of the last failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Dietrich Bonhoeffer penned a short poem for his friend, Eberhard Bethge, titled “Stations on the Road to Freedom.” Continue Reading...

January 03, 2014

Gospel Entrepreneurs

In his new book, Risky Gospel, Owen Strachan calls Christians to an active life filled with faith and risk, cautioning us away from complacency and comfortability, whether in our churches, jobs, families, political witness, or in the deeper workings of our spiritual lives. Continue Reading...

November 27, 2013

Pilgrims, Property Rights, and the Source of Stewardship

Each Thanksgiving brings with it another opportunity to pause, meditate, and express our gratitude for the great blessings in life. As one who recently welcomed a new baby boy to my family, it seems particularly evident this season that the greatest blessings are not, after all, material. Continue Reading...

November 05, 2013

Conscience and Christian Stewardship

I recently shared a lengthy excerpt from Faithful in All God’s House, highlighting the investment-return motif that appears throughout the Bible. “All of God’s gifts to mankind are as a divine investment on which the investor expects full return,” write Berghoef and DeKoster. Continue Reading...

June 28, 2013

Making ‘Good Intentions’ Good

I recently wrote on the implications of “pathological altruism,” a term coined by Oakland University’s Barbara Oakley to categorize altruism in which “attempts to promote the welfare of others instead result in unanticipated harm.” Continue Reading...

March 07, 2013

Creating a Culture That Lasts: Matthew Lee Anderson on ‘Radical Christianity’

I recently expressed my reservations about David Platt’s approach to “radical Christianity,” noting that, outside of embracing certain Biblical constraints (e.g. tithing), we should be wary of cramming God’s will into our own cookie-cutter molds for how wealth should be carved up and divvied out. Continue Reading...

January 11, 2013

David Platt, Wealth, and the Work of the Gospel

Over at Thought Life, Owen Strachan uses David Platt’s book, Radical Together, as a launching pad for asking, “Are you and I making and using money as if there is no such thing as the work of the gospel?” Continue Reading...

December 10, 2012

Where Capitalism Ends, the Covenant Continues

As we reap the benefits of market exchange and observe the many achievements of free trade and globalization, it’s easy to give credit to the market itself, either ignoring or forgetting the supporting individuals, communities, and institutions who actively leveraged it for the common good. Continue Reading...

September 15, 2009

Hannah And Her Sisters… and Brothers

The other day on this PowerBlog I posted “Learning To Tell The Truth” and ended the article with an observation: It may be instructive to note that the young female reporter who took part in the videos is named Hannah. Continue Reading...

April 17, 2009

PBR: The End of Poverty

This Sunday I’ll be giving a talk at Fountain Street Church on the life and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His unfinished Ethics is a tantalizing work, full of insights and conundrums. Continue Reading...

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