This is going to be a bit of a different post in that it is one intended more for a Hutterite audience. I assume other readers could benefit from this as well, but I see myself here as entering a Hutterite conversation. Incidentally, this post sort of serves as a summery of where I find … Continue reading 15 Thesis for Hutterite Renewal
Category: Hutterites
Rod Dreher, Anxious Activism and Hopeful Obedience
I’ve always had a complicated relationship with Rod Dreher. Dreher, a writer at American Conservative is well known in Christian circles for the central thesis of his book The Benedict Option: Western society has become so post-Christian that Christians should pursue a strategic retreat from mainstream society. Dreher’s supporters have often pointed out that critics … Continue reading Rod Dreher, Anxious Activism and Hopeful Obedience
Hutterites and Technology
This is a long essay I wrote to supplement some presentations I gave for Hutterites on the topic of technology. This essay is intended for a Hutterite audience and so uses Hutterite examples and assumes a communal context. That said, the insights of this essay could apply equally to any family or community who wants … Continue reading Hutterites and Technology
Friends and Neighbours Evening 2023
Hello readers, On the 28th at 7:00 CST, there will be an evening of music, artwork, and Christmas message from Hutterites across North America. This is the third such annual evening we've produced, and I hope you can join us on the premier. God bless you all in the New Year. https://youtu.be/svDNA0tO31c?feature=shared
Advent 2: Joining Creation’s Praise
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him … Continue reading Advent 2: Joining Creation’s Praise
Living in God’s Time in a Technological Age
In his 2004 JJ Thiessen Lectures, John Swinton addresses the theme of disability and time. Dr. Swinton’s central thesis is that disability is all about time.[1] Essentially, Dr. Swinton uses the experience of ‘disability’ as an apophatic tool to expose the rebellious modern conception of time and it's connected anthropology. Swinton makes a similar move … Continue reading Living in God’s Time in a Technological Age
Article Published in Plough Quarterly
My readers might be interested to read a piece I wrote for Plough Quarterly. If you’re a subscriber to the print magazine you should find my article in the latest issue; if not, you can access it here: https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/anabaptists/baptism-means-leaving-home-to-find-it
Friends and Neighbours Evening 2022
Hello Friends, I hope you are having a joyful and restful Christmas season. I thought I would share the following link with you. Some friends and I have been working on a Hutterite Christmas video, featuring Hutterites from all over. Look forward to an evening of choirs, small groups, solos, instrumental pieces, as well as … Continue reading Friends and Neighbours Evening 2022
Reflection on Current Views on Technology
I wrote the following piece for a course I am taking called Ethical Living in a Technological Society. I was asked to reflect on my current views on technology and tried to do so with as much clarity and self criticism as I could. I thought this piece would be a good edition to the … Continue reading Reflection on Current Views on Technology
Alternative Rememberance Day Reflection
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Christ and Possessions
I recently heard that the foundational principle of some libertarian or anarchist political theories is the right to own private property. It is precisely this principle that leads these thinkers to reject all forms government coercion, because they violate this most basic human right to autonomy and self-sufficiency. As far as I'm concerned, this position … Continue reading Christ and Possessions
Chapter 20: Conversions
In this chapter Taylor looks at the phenomenon of conversion in a Secular age, those people who “broke out of the immanent frame” into a larger perspective of Transcendence. These are people who come to recognize—perhaps through a conversion experience or via some other path—that there is more, that the immanent frame is insufficient. Taylor … Continue reading Chapter 20: Conversions
Chapter 12: The Age of Mobilization
In this chapter, Taylor is beginning to develop his own secularization theory, while critiquing some of the mainstream secularization theories. Secularization theory seeks to explain the decline of religion in the west and holds that: “…“modernity” (in some sense) tends to repress or reduce religion” (in some sense)”. Taylor broadly agrees with the general claim … Continue reading Chapter 12: The Age of Mobilization
Chapter 2: The Rise of the Disciplinary Society
In this chapter, Taylor starts to describe the process by which we move from and enchanted to a disenchanted world and describes how the movement of "Reform" takes us into the modern, disciplinary society. He begins by asking how to explain the rise in the interest in nature for its own sake in the late … Continue reading Chapter 2: The Rise of the Disciplinary Society
A Secular Age: Shorter Summary
For those of you feeling intimidated by my 21 part series on A Secular Age, this shorter summary could help you get a sense of the argument Taylor is making. I've organized this shorter summary into 11 different sections and added some links to the corresponding chapter summary that each section is drawn from. At … Continue reading A Secular Age: Shorter Summary
6 Theses for Christian Politics
In the increasingly hot climate of the culture wars in the United States, and with some of that animosity creeping across the border into our own communities, I would like to put forward six thesis for a Christian politics. In doing this, I’m not trying to change anyone’s political views (though that might follow as … Continue reading 6 Theses for Christian Politics
Hutterites and the Pandemic
I was planing to get this piece published when I first wrote it back in April. When that fell through, I decided to make some changes and repost it here.
Towards an Anabaptist Epistemology: A Non Violent Way of Knowing
Having summarized the broad outlines of an Anabaptist political theology, I will now draw out the epistemological implications of this stance. Some broad definitions might be helpful before we proceed. When I speak of “Anabaptism,” I am thinking of two particular, closely connected views. First, there is the commitment to Christian nonviolence or pacifism, the … Continue reading Towards an Anabaptist Epistemology: A Non Violent Way of Knowing
An Anabaptist Political Theology: Riedemann and Yoder in dialogue
This piece is the first of a series of posts I intend to write on the topic of Anabaptist Epistemology. This piece will focus on political theology, the second on implications and the third on the positive outlines of an Anabaptist Epistemology.
Kill all Normies and Radicalism, Various Thoughts
In her book Kill All Normies: Online culture wars from 4Chan and Tumbler to Trump and the Alt-Right, Angela Nagel argues that our culture is obsessed with transgression. What Nagel means by “transgression” is the constant attempt to frame oneself as “anti-establishment,” one’s art as “subversive,” one’s political views as “radical,” or one’s moral pronouncements … Continue reading Kill all Normies and Radicalism, Various Thoughts
The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: A Summary
Alan Kreider begins his marvellously titled book, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, with some striking observations about mission in the early church. Kreider notes that while the early Christians produced three texts on patience (Tertulian, Cyprian, Augustine), they did not produce a single text on evangelism. Furthermore, early Christians did not encourage their … Continue reading The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: A Summary
Christianity, Creation and Climate Change
This piece comes in the wake of the First Reformed movie review and is my attempt to think through some of the themes and questions raised by that film, as well as gather my own thoughts on the issue of Christianity and Creation care.
The Meaning Crisis, The God-man and Communal Living
Walker Pearcy’s novel, The Moviegoer is a story of the modern condition. The main character, Binx Bolings feels “sunk in everydayness,” battles malaise, and searches for God knows what. Binx describes feeling like an “anyone” who is “anywhere.” He, like many in the modern age, experiences a sense of being uprooted, abstracted out of existence, … Continue reading The Meaning Crisis, The God-man and Communal Living
Social Media and I: The Pernicious Effects of Social Media.
The following essay is an extended version of a speech I gave on the topic of social media. The piece is directed to a Christian and specifically Hutterite audience. I have omitted some culture-specific references that don't apply to most readers. I don’t use social media. In the last few years, I have deleted my … Continue reading Social Media and I: The Pernicious Effects of Social Media.
Coffee with Kierkegaard 