Engaging with Culture: 3 Assumptions for Christians

What You Need to Know before Talking to People Who Differ from You

Greetings, my friends. Three things to share with you. Two exciting announcements, and then an article.

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Illumination Book Awards

The Great Lie recently won the bronze medal for theology in the 2023 Illumination Book Awards. Honestly, something like this is only important to me if it can get new readers to give the book a chance. I want to serve people with words, and sometimes these types of awards can help authors do that. If you haven’t checked the book out yet, give it a shot :)

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Poetry Coming

My very first poetry collection is coming soon, and I wanted to share the cover with you before anyone else saw it :)

These poems have been “marinading” for over 15 years, some for close to 20. They’ve gone through many revisions, and I’m convinced at last that they’re finished. I can’t wait to see what you think! They touch on grief, the sacredness of the ordinary, and the mystery of faith. More to come soon!

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3 Assumptions for Christian Cultural Engagement

I wrote up the below article to help Christians set a foundation for engaging with those who disagree with them. I hope it helps.

The Horror of Disagreement

I’m a Matthew 5:9 child. Were my heart a forest, peace would be the log cabin deep in the woods, with a spindling smoke trail winding above the evergreen. Still. Settled. Quiet. And longing to stay that way.

But my heart isn’t a forest. Peace isn’t tucked away in the woods. The world is loud and broken. There is so much shouting, and sarcasm, and caricatures, and reductionism. In the loud world, my heart might as well be in Times Square—shaken by the decibels of discontent. Today’s controversies and disagreements literally make my stomach turn. Awkward pauses reeking with judgment swell my throat. Heart palpitations thunder when I watch people cut each other off. So, when I finished watching a recent documentary on identity, you can imagine how I felt.