In the process of writing a memoir, I have been reflecting on the families of two sisters.  The first, Joyce, ruled with the iron hand of legalism.  Her five kids obeyed a lengthy set of strict rules—“Because I say so, that’s why!”  Now grown, they tell me they acquiesced mainly out of fear of punishment. Joyce’s family devotions often centered on the Old Testament: Honor your parents, Fear the Lord, Stop grumbling.  The word grace rarely came up.  When her ...

I am going through a personal crisis.  I used to love reading.  I am writing this blog in my office, surrounded by 27 tall bookcases laden with some 5,000 books. Over the years I have read them, marked them up, and recorded the annotations in a computer database for potential references in my writing. To a large degree, they have formed my professional and spiritual life. Books help define who I am. They have ushered me on a journey of ...

If you feel discouraged about the church in the U.S.—or the state of the nation itself, for that matter—I recommend traveling abroad.  I just returned from two countries that share a common border, Bulgaria and Greece, and both make our own problems seem small by contrast. Bulgaria may hold the world record for bad luck in foreign policy.  For five hundred years it did not even exist as an independent country, ruled instead by Turks of the Ottoman Empire.  Freed ...