Category: Popular

Last year the editors of Dialogue, a world-wide Adventist publication for college and university students, asked me to write an article on ‘Living the Christian Life in an Alien Culture.’ This topic might not have been my first choice, but as I was teaching a post-graduate module on 1 Peter, I saw some interesting exegetical opportunities. Many argue that race, nationality and alienness play a large role in 1 Peter and its message to its audience—see, e.g., David Horrell.  (more…)

A while ago the editor of Adventnyt, the church magazine of the Danish Adventist Church, messaged me in some stress. He needed an article on divine providence, and he needed it now. Something about another author falling through Read more…

Earlier this year, the Dutch Adventist church asked me to write a short booklet on biblical hermeneutics in Dutch. It was meant to be about 6000 words, easy to understand for any member, that will be distributed in Holland: one for each household. The timeframe was ridiculously short: writing, designing, printing and distributing within three weeks! But, we made the deadline (with thanks to my team of editors and designers) and the booklet was distributed at the Union Session on January 31. A couple of months later the booklet is also available in English. (more…)

Every five years or so the British Adventist church publishes an evangelistic magazine called Focus. This year they asked me to write an article about why I am an Adventist. That's a very hard question, and the best answer I could come up with is 'I like to believe that there's a God.' That was a good summary of my position. As the weird post-postmodern person that I am, I don't really attach any important if there is actually a God. I don't want to know if there is a God. All of this is the wrong question. I, personally, think my life is better if I believe in God, so I like to believe in him. (more…)

I arrived home today to find an exciting bit of post: three copies of the latest Adventist Today. It is apparently the GC Session Special. It's twice as thick as usual, and has been sent to all the GC Session delegates, as well as the normal subscribers. The exciting part is that it contains an article written by me: That's So Meta: The Post-Postmodern Church. The article is based on a speech I gave at Reframe at the One project is San Diego. One of the editors of Adventist Today was in the audience and asked if I could give him a transcript. The wonderful editors at Adventist Today helped make the article much better than the speech, and definitely worth reading. (more…)