Exposition through an Apologetics Lens: A Case for Integration

This paper explores two disciplines largely considered and practiced separately: apologetics and expositional preaching. The challenges from expressive individualism, New Atheism, pragmatism within the church, apathy in the West towards the supernatural, and the 21st-century renaissance in Christian Apologetics present an opportunity to reclaim the ancient practice of exposition through an apologetics lens. I will … Read more

Fethullah Gülen, Said Nursi, and John Calvin’s Understanding of Tyranny

This presentation compares the teaching of the nature and causes of tyranny by two Muslim leaders, Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1877-1960) and Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (1941-2024), with John Calvin’s (1509-1564) theology of God’s secret providence. Nursi’s commentary on the Qur’an, the Risale-i Nur, along with two published volumes of Gülen’s sermons, Yolun Kaderi (The Path’s Destiny), … Read more

The Psalter as a Book for the Humble

Because of its manifold treasures, the Psalter has been rightly referred to in many complementary ways. It has been called a book of praises (tehilim), a book of prayers, a book of songs of faith, a royal hymnbook, the hymnbook of the church, sacred space, a little Bible (Martin Luther), a great house (Jerome), etc. … Read more

The virtue of empathy: Christian empathy and the care of souls

In recent political theology of the Evangelical right, there has been a growing conversation about the sin of empathy, the toxicity of empathy, and the general weakness of empathy as a human capacity. This paper will not be a line by line rebuttal of recent arguments – partly because there is not sufficient space and … Read more