Category: Spirituality

• March 6, 2018

  The Impact of Christian Theology on Economic Outcomes

  Religion, spiritual practices, and faith are easily observable factors in the daily lives of people almost anywhere in the world. This leads many to speculate and theorize about the role of religion in driving economic and social outcomes. Positive correlations abound between religiosity and a host of factors that may influence economic success. Correlation, however,…
• June 29, 2015

  The Effect of Income on Religiousness

  A majority of the world’s population claim adherence to a religion. But while there is a growing literature on the effects of religiousness on economic behaviour, we know very little about how economic factors affect religiousness. How income affects religious behaviour and affiliation is an especially important question for developing countries experiencing a rise in…
• October 26, 2014

  The Poor are Poor because…

  Tim Hoiland, a fellow theology/development/general stuff blogger, posted a piece last week entitled, “The Church Among the Poor“. In it he quotes Jayakumar Christian (Christian development scholar) who says, “The poor are poor because someone else is trying to play God in their life”. Now, there are a lot of so-called axioms that start with…
• January 16, 2014

  “Mission Trip” Syllabus

  Over the past month or so I’ve received several requests (or invitations) to support various upcoming “Mission Trips” (or voluntourism trips).  Some are weeklong trips over spring break and some are a couple weeks scheduled sometime in the summer months. Without going on for too long about my opinion of Mission Trips I would like…
• September 30, 2013

  Can You Come Out and Play?

  Soccer, or what it is more commonly known as, football, is the world’s most popular sport. This may, or may not, come to a surprise to those who live in the United States where there are many popular sports to play and to watch. The world enjoys football. The world understands football. That is why…
• February 25, 2013

  We’ll Thank Each Other Later

  It has been a while since my last post. I’ve been busy with school, trying to find a job, and spending time with friends. But I had to break the hiatus to share some thoughts on this topic. Last week Calvin College Philosophy professor James K.A. Smith wrote a fascinating article entitled, “You’ll Thank Me Later”: Paternalism and…
• December 19, 2012

  Echad

  I was recently asked to speak at faculty devotions held weekly at my former elementary, middle, and high school. I was asked by my mother who teaches first grade at Whitinsville Christian School, and who’s turn to prepare devotions was approaching. The assignment was rigged. Reflect on two passages from scripture: the year long theme verse,…
• August 27, 2012

  Christianity in Africa

  This past weekend I visited the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission, and Culture in Akropong, Ghana. This was the final part of the orientation for the semester in Ghana that I am participating in. It was refreshing to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city of Accra and spend some time preparing…
• July 25, 2012

  Destination as Journey

  Watch this… Did you catch it… “… the journey is the destination.” The punch line of this comercial caught my attention. The comercial seems trivial at first (I mean lets face it, we ran out of creative ideas to sell cars about 10 years ago) but I realized this was scratching the surface of something very…
• June 17, 2012

  Thank God for Evolution

  Here is a spoken word poem about slavery, genocide, and hope by Micah Bournes. Micah is a poet and signer from Southern California. He works mostly with the theme of Justice and how that fits in with theology. This video is very thought provoking and well done. In some places it is difficult to hear,…