In my current teaching series, “Think Again,” I’m critiquing popular views of salvation in light of Easter. Jesus rising from the dead forced his disciples to think again about what it meant to be sa...  Read More

Last week I began working on my next book. I’m sharing a bit about it in this post mainly to hold myself accountable to keep working on it. Feel free to ask me about it if/when you see me next. Like ...  Read More

In his book Unconditional Love, John Powell, S.J. asks, “Is loving really the way to human fulfillment? If I choose love as my personal life principle, will I find satisfaction and true gratification?...  Read More

This will be my final post reflecting on Christian Smith’s book Why Religion Went Obsolete. If this is a topic that interests you, I would highly recommend you pick up a copy. Smith’s explanation for ...  Read More

Christian Smith argues that traditional religion in America is suffering from “cultural mismatch,” a discordant relationship with general culture that is pushing it into a state of unplanned obsolesce...  Read More

This is Part 4 in a blog series I’m calling “Why Religion Went Obsolete,” a synopsis of and reflection on Christian Smith’s 2025 book by the same title. Smith argues that a multitude of macro and mic...  Read More

Christian Smith argues that traditional religion in America has gone obsolete, meaning most people feel it is no longer useful or needed because something else has superseded it in function, efficienc...  Read More

Despite some recent signs of revival, the headline remains true: traditional religion in America is spiraling. In his latest book, Why Religion Went Obsolete, sociologist Christian Smith ventures to ...  Read More

I recently finished sociologist Christian Smith’s latest book Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America and I’d like to spend a few blog posts distilling his argument (for...  Read More

In my sermon on Sunday, I used the phrase “the common gospel” to distinguish between what I believe to be the actual Christian good news from those popular renditions of the Jesus story you will likel...  Read More

Anytime I give a sermon like the one I gave on Easter Sunday, I know there will be some people wondering about judgment. “If what you’re saying is that God will ultimately redeem all people, what pla...  Read More

Dustin Schmidt addressed the topic of “the crowd” while preaching at our church a few days ago on Palm Sunday. He pointed out that the same people who praised Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem hurled ...  Read More