The fourth novel in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, which hit bookstores in July, represents the largest first printing (3.8 million copies) of…
Discernment Exercise: Does Spirituality Mean Inner Peace?
If you have visited a Christian book store recently or browsed through a catalog from a religious publisher you will know that self-help and…
Discernment Exercise: Banned in Christian Schools
A Christian school recently decided to develop a series of guidelines to help teachers in their selection of literature to be used in the…
Discerment Exercise: Adam and Eve Rested, But Were They Ever Bored?
Boredom is so common now-a-days that most of us tend to assume it has always plagued the human race. At least since the Fall.…
Discernment Exercise: Christian horror films?
We take film seriously in these pages, and for good reason. For one thing, it is an art form of enormous power, beauty, nuance,…
Discernment Exercise: The Reach and Limits of Efficiency
I was at the Post Office this week to mail a package. I stood in line. The line snaked across the lobby and doubled…
Discernment Exercise: Pushing Beyond Comfort Zones
Last year a friend, Tim Giese, phoned with an invitation, though he worded it as a challenge. “You’re always talking about discerning culture,” he…
Material Boy: On Artifacts, Discernment, and Elites
Community / Discernment / Pluralistic World
Andy Crouch’s Culture Making, is an important book written by an insightful writer. It warrants wide discussion. It is also strangely troubling. Perhaps this…
When the Church Fails Us
Discernment / Faith / Spirituality
We recently received an email which I wanted to answer, but decided it deserved more than the brief response which would fit on the…
Discernment Exercise: Measuring Spirituality
Given the wide-spread interest in spirituality today, it probably isn’t surprising that a psychologist has proposed a way to gauge “spiritual intelligence.” Robert Emmons…