Knowing & Doing

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a gifted nineteenth century American writer who helped launch a movement of sorts called transcendentalism, in which the individual supplanted religious traditions and institutions. David George Moore argues that while Emerson’s work isn’t well known among Americans, his influence on our lives is incalculable. In this article, he offers suggestions for how Christians can address the ongoing challenges posed by Emersonian philosophy. Read this article online.

We might think that the antidote to fear is courage, since it is one of the classical cardinal virtues. But, the biblical response to fear is really hope. Learn more in this message from Dennis Hollinger. Read this article online.

There is no such thing as Hinduism. Hinduism is a word that the British coined as a catch-all term for the innumerable and often contradictory religions they found on the Indian subcontinent. Gerald McDermott presents a thumbnail sketch of Hinduism for Christians. Read the full article here.

Most Christians are taught to believe that ambition is sinful and therefore to be avoided. But what is godly ambition and how can we harness it for good? Discover principles for exercising ambition in an honorable and godly way. Read this article online.

Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the Holy Community as food nurtures the human body. Eugene Peterson helps us understand how we can find nourishment from the Bible. Read this full article here.

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the relationship between Christianity and the natural sciences. Oxford Professor Alister McGrath illustrates how Christianity helps make sense of the world and provides a framework for both science and a spirituality of nature. Read this full article online.

The modern world tends to downplay or deny the reality of death, relegating it behind closed doors or to a few lines in the back of the newspaper. Death is considered a rare stranger instead of a certain and approaching visitation. But ignoring death is short-sighted and can prevent us from living fully. Death not only filters our priorities, it also filters our passions. In this insightful message, Gary Thomas helps us understand why it is wise to remember the fragility and brevity of our own lives and recall the lives of those who have gone before us. Read this article online here.

We’re burdened for our friends who don’t know the joy of the Gospel. So how do we approach evangelism and apologetics? Randy Newman shares our need to ask God to reshape us so we truly love people and see them as “precious, eternal, valuable souls.” Furthermore, he suggests that we must adjust our approaches to sharing the Gospel according to the dramatic changes in our culture. Read this article online.

Christians aren't immune to evil, but skeptics are often quick to seize on a Christian's bad behavior as reason to discount the faith. The gospel can uniquely address the skeptic’s contention – because the gospel’s response is to demonstrate that there is Someone they can trust. Read this article online.

Our desire to pray is God’s gift of love and friendship to us. Learn more about the relationship between prayer and friendship with God in this insightful message from Dr. James Houston. To read this article online, please click here.