An Integrated Life

Theologian John Stott has said that every Christian should experience two conversions. The first is out of the world to Christ. The second is back into the world with Christ. Sadly, many Christians fail to take the second step. Sometimes this is out of fear. It can be intimidating to engage the ugliness of the fallen world. But for many, the failure to re-engage the world is because of ignorance and lack of helpful resources.

In their new book, A Faith and Culture Devotional: Daily Readings in Art, Science, and Life (Zondervan, 2008), editors Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Lael Arrington hope to bridge that gap. With contributions from a number of insightful authors, including John Stott, Dallas Willard, Os Guinness, Randy Alcorn, R.C. Sproul, Frederica Matthews-Green and many more, this devotional takes readers on a 15-week journey “to marvel at the wonders of God and his world.” Monroe and Lael explain, “Our hope is that this devotional catalyzes a kind of kingdom education from master kingdom teachers, expanding our knowledge, strengthening our beliefs, and inspiring our love for God and others.”

Each week offers short readings from seven key cultural areas: Bible and theology; history; philosophy; science; literature; arts; and contemporary culture. The readings conclude with reflection questions for individual or group study. We need to be reminded that God is not just about the business of redeeming individuals, but that He cares deeply about His entire creation, including the cultures in which we live. This excellent and unique devotional serves as a daily reminder of God’s heart for His world.

Visit CultureDevo.com to learn more about the book and to see a complete list of contributors.

Walt's Latest Recommendations

CPYU President Walt Mueller has offered two new book recommendations on his blog Learning My Lines. The Long Snapper: A Second Chance, A Super Bowl, A Lesson of Life by Jeffrey Marx “is a quick can't-put-it-down book that tells the story of Brian Kinchen's unprobable invitation to come out of retirement to long-snap for the Patriots during their Super Bowl run of 2003. Marx uses his engaging signature-style to take readers on Kinchen's journey from middle-school Bible teacher to the stresses of long-snapping when ultimate football prize is on the line.”

Walt also highly recommends Think No Evil: Inside the Story of the Amish Schoolhouse Shooting and Beyond by his good friend Jonas Beiler. According to Walt, “Jonas gives a compelling firsthand account of not only what transpired at Nickel Mines and his personal involvement, but how the Amish were committed to forgive.”

Click here to read the rest of Walt’s post Read These.

Click here to learn more about The Long Snapper.

Click here to learn more about Think No Evil.

Happy Anniversary, Darwin?

How will you celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species? I hadn’t really thought about it until I read an interesting article in Inside Higher Education. In his article, Darwin, From the Creationists, Scott Jaschik reports on a new strategy being cooked up by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort. Jaschik explains, “Living Waters, an evangelical group that argues for the literal truth of the Bible, is planning to distribute 175,000 copies of The Origin of Species on university campuses next month, just in time for the 150th anniversary of its publication. But these won't be ordinary copies. They will feature a ‘special introduction’ to Darwin's classic.”

The special introduction is an added 50 pages written by Comfort that provides a timeline of Darwin, connects Darwin to Hitler and, according to Cameron, “gives a clear explanation of the Gospel.”

So, I'm curious, what do you think of this strategy? What do you think of Cameron's assertions at the beginning of the video? In the end, do you think this "outreach" does more harm or good for the advancement of the Gospel on today's college campuses?