In late September, 1988 I was a sophomore at Wheaton College. The air was alive with fall, colors were exploding on trees, students chatty and excited about new classes. The sweatshirts had been dug out of the bottom of dresser drawers. We were starting to order coffee, hot tea and hot chocolate at the Stupe, the campus snack bar. We were adjusting to new professors and their expectations. We’d barely gotten notice of our assigned chapel seats when Dr. Arthur Holmes took the stage in what would become inseparable from the culture of our shared four undergraduate years, the “Isms, Ists & Anti-ism-ists” message he delivered to roughly 2,000 of us in Edman Hall. I don’t think a single student in my graduating class forgets it. Honestly, I couldn’t have told you what that address was about, but I always remembered its title. We students would forever associate that phrase with any mention of the philosophy department or Dr. Holmes. Read the rest of this entry »

Worth the 2-minute read: An Interview with Bono.

New York World-Telegram and The Sun (staff photographer). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“In the final analysis the church has a purpose,” said the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and then went on to share from Isaiah 61:1-2 before the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. It was June 5, 1966. The sermon he gave, titled “Guidelines for a Constructive Church,” is a beautiful call to Christ’s church to remember its purpose and call in this world. If you have time on this holiday, I hope you’ll take time to submit yourself to the message of Dr. King. May we be the church God has set us apart to be.

Guidelines for a Constructive Church

My former Greek professor died yesterday morning. His last great test on this earth is over, and though a painful and swiftly progressing cancer made for intense suffering in his final days, the battle for him is won. He has passed on to glory.

I knew him for such a short time, but as beloved professors can, he marked my scant four years in college with sweet memories. He used to show up to class in cowboy boots. His wife would have us all over for meals. He had a heart for students who struggled with Greek, an uncanny patience with the lot of us. In the upper level exegesis courses, he used to give us copious notes on the text, all handwritten (I still have them). He wrote books and edited commentaries. He was highly respected and admired both by his colleagues and his students. And he was also amazingly approachable and personable. Read the rest of this entry »