“American society has a knowledge crisis, and the American church is no exception,” writes Bonnie Kristian in Untrustworthy. Her book details the origin, consequences, and resolution of the crisis. Its message is timely. What is the crisis? “It ain’t what … Continue reading Untrustworthy | Book Review
Phillips Brooks, the nineteenth-century minister who wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” defined preaching as “the communication of Truth through Personality.” Truth is “the most authoritative statement of God’s will,” he said. Personality refers to a preacher’s “character, his affections, … Continue reading Why Preaching Requires Virtue | Influence Podcast
For as long as I can remember, I have loved to read. My father was a pastor and my mother was a teacher, so there were always books around the house — preeminently the Bible, but also works of fiction and nonfiction. I never caught flak for reading as such, but my mom would sometimes look askance at me when I told her I was reading fiction. Fiction is weird. Pablo Picasso wrote, “We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.” Leland Ryken, my college English professor, said the same thing … Continue reading On Reading Well | Book Review
In this episode of the Influence Podcast (cross-posted with permission), I talk to Christian Miller about how to close the sanctification gap, the distance between who we are and who we ought to be. Miller is A. C. Reid Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University and director of the Character Project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and Templeton World Charity. He is also author of The Character Gap: How Good Are We? (Oxford University Press). The conversation ranges over insights philosophy, theology, and psychology contribute to closing the sanctification gap. Take a listen! Continue reading Closing the Sanctification Gap | Influence Podcast
The cover of Christian B. Miller’s book, The Character Gap, has a picture of Gandhi at the top and Hitler at the bottom with a graded spectrum between them. The picture is fitting, for one of Miller’s central theses is that most people are neither as bad as we could be nor as good as we should be. We are, instead, a muddle. The question that arises, then, is how we can become better than we are. Miller is A. C. Reid Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University and Director of the Character Project. Funded by the John Templeton … Continue reading The Character Gap | Book Review
GeorgePWood.com 