A Note To Subscribers

If you received this blog post in your email inbox, that's because at some point you subscribed to my blog. Thank you! Blogger tells me that the automatic email subscription service is going away. Supposedly, I can access the subscription list, but I haven't been able to do it successfully, so it will be up to you to re-subscribe using the new subscription service links on the side of my blog instead.

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

I've been blogging for over 10 years. 

I've written over 500 blog posts. 

And this blog has had well over 215,000 views.

YOU are the reason I keep writing. 

Thanks for reading!

Summer Sale on Seminary Now: 40% Off!

Last year, just before the pandemic started, I filmed a series of teaching videos for Seminary Now to go along with my book Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters. As one of the contributors, I was given access to all of the other content. I went through Ruth Haley Barton's course, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. I had read her book several years ago with a group of women in leadership, and it was great to go through her content again.

Our family has loved Seminary Now! For family devotions, we've gone through John Walton's Lost World of Genesis One, Sandy Richter's Stewards of Eden, and David Fitch's Faithful Presence. Our 12-year-old has genuinely enjoyed these courses.

Looking for high-quality resources to equip your leaders and disciple your church? If you haven’t subscribed to Seminary Now yet, take advantage of their biggest sale of the year! 

For a limited time, save 40% off an *annual* subscription 

with discount code ANNUAL40. That’s less than $9 a month!
This amazing offer expires today, June 22.

Sign Up

Seminary Now is a new streaming video platform with courses from today’s leading professors and authors. In addition to those listed above, Seminary Now offers courses by Scot McKnight, Nijay Gupta, Brenda Salter McNeil, Robert Chao Romero, Lynn Cohick, Tish Harrison Warren, Tremper Longman, and Esau McCaulley. Like Netflix or Masterclass, subscribers get unlimited access to all courses—available on smart phone, tablet, and TV devices. Most courses are presented as 10 episodes of less than 15 minutes each, making them ideal for family devotions, personal enrichment, or small group learning.

GET SEMINARY NOW FOR YOUR CHURCH

The high-quality content and easy accessibility make Seminary Now an excellent resource for training your leaders and discipling your church. A church subscription to Seminary Now provides:   

• logins for church staff and lay leaders to complete certificate tracks 

• engaging, relevant content for small groups and Sunday school classes

This month only: 20% off a church subscription (expires June 30). Complete this form to get church or group pricing. 

Comment below to let me know which course you want to take first! Or, if you're a subscriber, I'd love to hear which course has been your favorite and why.

Introducing a New Devotional Resource on the Psalms

Until recent decades, the Psalms have been a mainstay for individual and corporate prayer for Christians. For 2000 years, churches sang and prayed the Psalms so frequently that many Christians knew them by heart. In some traditions (Catholic, Anglican, Christian Reformed, to name a few), this is still the case. But for the vast majority of us who identify as Evangelical Protestants, the Psalms have dropped off our radar.

In our clamor for the latest worship songs, we have lost sight of one of the most precious resources of our historic faith. We cherish the fact that we can come to God just as we are, but our "vocabulary" is rather limited. We naturally gravitate toward certain language and certain topics when we pray. To be frank, our prayers often become unimaginative and dull. Believers can still value the authenticity that comes from spontaneous prayer, while expanding our language for prayer by praying the Psalms.

I'm delighted to share with you a new devotional resource that I hope will strengthen our collective prayer muscles and provide companionship on our spiritual journey. Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends is an anthology of devotional reflections on the Psalms by over two dozen early Christian writers. I've selected a few paragraphs on each psalm by a wide range of voices spanning the first 15 centuries of the church -- Augustine, John Calvin, Gertrude the Great, Mary Sidney Herbert, and many others. Most, if not all, of these writers prayed through the Psalms regularly and would have known them by heart. I found their words inspiring, challenging, and enlightening, and I hope you do, too.

Does your prayer life feel anemic? Are you hungry for a deeper connection with God? Consider joining me this summer in praying through the Psalms. Praying the Psalms contains a reading plan that will take you through the entire book of Psalms in eight weeks by reading and praying just three psalms a day. 

Option 1: Read the Psalms.

Option 2: Read the Psalms along with these devotional reflections.

The devotional is not meant to replace the Psalms, but to be read alongside them. I've set aside June 14 to August 14 to read the Psalms with you. That's 9 weeks, so there's grace built in if life gets crazy and you fall behind. 

All of the Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics are divided into eight "chapters" so that they are easy to read with a group over eight weeks. Each chapter has discussion questions. And each week, you'll find a free companion video on the Sacred Roots YouTube channel in which I introduce the next "chapter" of the book. Here's my introduction to the series:

If you plan to join us in reading through the Psalms, I'd love to hear about your experience! Comment below to let me know that you're joining us. Could you recruit a friend or two to join you? 

This volume is the first in the Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics series funded by the Lilly Foundation. The series is one dimension of the Sacred Roots Thriving in Ministry project led by Hank Voss of Taylor University, which seeks to connect under-resourced pastors with the riches of our historic faith. You can learn more about the larger project on the Sacred Roots website. The Lilly Foundation covered the cost of producing the first 16 volumes, so all the income from sales of the book will fund a second series of spiritual classics. You can order a copy of Praying the Psalms on Amazon. 

I hope this is a rich summer for all of us as we expand our prayer language and practice bringing our whole selves into the presence of God

Best Books for Academics Learning Their Craft

So you have your PhD. Now what? If you're fortunate enough to land a job, even a contingent one, how do you transition from slaving away at a dissertation in the bowels of the library to joining a faculty and standing at a lectern? The books below have helped me navigate this transition. I wish I could share them with every academic I know. 

Disclaimer: I didn't set out to write a commercial for InterVarsity Press. IVP just happens to consistently hit home runs by publishing books that I want to read! They aren't paying me to write this. I'm sharing it in hopes that these books can help you reach your full potential.

Trying to engage a classroom of 18-year olds is a far cry from spending long hours in the library laboring over a dissertation. Mike Kibbe (Great Northern) gets this, and he's written a wonderful guide to navigating the transition from what you've been trained to do (i.e., research and write) and what you're now hired to do (i.e., captivate students and help them learn). From Research to Teaching: A Guide to Beginning Your Classroom Career (IVP 2021) should be required reading for every newly minted PhD in Bible, theology, and related disciplines. Honestly, I couldn't put it down. Mike writes with candor and teaches with creativity. 

I'm 5 years in to the teaching profession, and I still believe it's the #bestjobintheworld. However, its rhythms and challenges are so unique that only an experienced insider can help someone like me find sustainable ways to navigate the academic year. Christina Bieber Lake (Wheaton) is the faculty mentor I wish I had in real life. The Flourishing Teacher: Vocational Renewaal for a Sacred Profession (IVP 2020) procedes month by month through the academic year, offering honest reflections and sage advice. I have savored each month's chapter for most of this school year. Last weekend I indulged myself by reading to the very end. What a gift to help me find perspective and cultivate joy in the journey!

THIS is the book I wish I'd had ten years ago. Power Women: Stories of Motherhood, Faith, and the Academy (IVP 2021) is a collection of essays by academic mothers about how they've navigated the dual callings of raising children and being a professor -- simultaneously. Men, before you tune out, you need this book, too, especially if you work in academic administration. This book will show you proven ways to recruit and retain female faculty in your institution. It's a treasure trove of ideas for how to help academic moms flourish. I had no women to model for me how to get an MA with small children, and few who could strategize with me about how to navigate a PhD with school-aged children. I am currently the only academic mom at my institution. How many other women out there are alone and need support? Power Women is a wonderful first step. Editors Nancy Wang Yuen (Biola) and Deshonna Collier-Goubil (Azusa) have done us a great service by bringing us the voices of a diverse group of women who have approached the quest for work-life balance in unique ways.

Write Better: A Lifelong Editor on Craft, Art, and Spirituality (IVP 2019) is a winsome guide written by one of IVP's star editors, Andrew T. Le Peau. His practical advice will revitalize your writing. Not everyone senses a calling or desire to write, but in most educational institutions it's a must. Writing is the currency of the academy -- the surest path to tenure, to impacting your field, to building a brand, and to reaching a broader audience with important ideas. Learn to do it well.

I read Institutional Intelligence: How to Build an Effective Organization (IVP 2017) when I transitioned from adjunct to full-time faculty. I wanted to know how to serve effectively in my institution. Gordon T. Smith is president of Ambrose University in Calgary. He has a keen sense of how to lead well and how to help others learn to lead well. Every generation has a tendency to try to re-invent the wheel, but lasting change comes through healthy institutions. My own passion will give out in time. A healthy institution harnesses the passion of a whole team and makes it last a generation or more. Though most professors would not identify the faculty meeting as the highlight of their week, a well-led faculty meeting can be a tangible generator of lasting change. I blogged about this book over at The Well if you'd like to learn more.

Gary Burge (Wheaton) has been around the block a few times. Looking back at a productive career, he reflects on distinct seasons of his own life in which priorities shifted and new goals coalesced. Where The Flourishing Teacher is a month-by-month guide to the academic year, Burge's book delivers on its title: Mapping Your Academic Career: Charting the Course of a Professor's Life (IVP 2015). It takes a much longer view and identifies the promises and pitfalls of each decade. I plan to keep this handy throughout my career.

Do you have another favorite that I haven't listed here? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. I never want to stop improving at the art of being a professor!

My Reverse CV

Photo by Dylan Collette on Unsplash

If you've watched me from a distance, it might look like things come easily for me or that everything works in my favor. It's simply not true. 

As academics we usually don't advertise our failures -- rejections, unsuccessful applications, awards we didn't win, discouragements -- at least not publicly. But failure is par for the course. 

Academics just getting started need to know this. It's demoralizing to be rejected if you're assuming that your career is over before it even gets started.

So here's a select list of my academic disappointments spanning the past 10 years (at least those I could recall today):

• article rejected by JETS
• article rejected by Tyndale Bulletin
• did horribly on my first Hebrew exam in seminary (after trying to teach myself)
• PhD application rejected by Princeton
• PhD application accepted provisionally (with deficiencies) by Asbury Theological Seminary
• barely passed my Theological German exam
• did not score well on the written portion of the GRE
• a whole chapter of my dissertation, representing months of work, hit the cutting floor
• first dissertation submission was unsuccessful (18 more months of work to do before resubmission)
• 7 unsuccessful teaching job applications (Ambrose University, George Fox University [3x], Palm Beach Atlantic University, Regent College, Biola University [withdrew due to dissertation delay])
• article rejected by New Man Magazine
• article rejected by Christianity Today
• grant application rejected by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning
• dissertation rejected for publication in the Siphrut series (Eisenbrauns)
• ETS paper proposal rejected (Psalms)
• SBL paper proposal rejected (Biblical Law)
• did not win the SBL Regional Scholar Award for the Pacific NW after being nominated
• unsuccessful book proposal with Zondervan
• unsuccessful book ideas with Eerdmans and IVP
• Bearing God's Name did not win the following awards for which it was entered: Word Guild, Alberta Book Award, Foundations (Midwestern), IVP Reader's Choice Award, Christianity Today

When I received my first rejection letter, I shared the sad news with one of my mentors. He told me he could wallpaper a whole room of his house with rejection letters. (I was surprised to hear that!) Not every idea is a good one. Not every application is the right timing. Sometimes the rejection has very little to do with you. Sometimes the reviewer is just having a bad day.

That failed Hebrew exam? I went back to the books, tried again, and passed.

Those discouraging PhD applications don't tell the whole story, either. I ended up with a full-ride scholarship to Wheaton College with a stipend, in spite of my mediocre score on the written portion of the GRE.

That dissertation that didn't make it to the defense the first time? Two years later I defended successfully with only minor revisions (a committee member said "flying colors"). And although the first series I pitched it to rejected it, the second one (with the SAME publisher!) said "yes" and the book went on to win a prestigious award from the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies.

That dissertation chapter that hit the cutting floor? It became the basis for Bearing God's Name, which is in its 7th printing in just 13 months (and has almost won several awards).

Those failed job applications? They have led to some wonderful friendships with people who were on hiring committees as well as those who landed the jobs. Those applications have led to other opportunities as well -- speaking and writing and podcast interviews and collaboration. In short, I learned a lot and gained new friends in the process. Just today I spoke at Regent College, a connection facilitated by my unsuccessful job interview there.

Remembering these "failures" reminds me that no rejection spells the end of God's calling on my life, or of yours. In some seasons, it takes creativity to find ways to be faithful to God's calling. I landed a job here on the frozen prairies of Alberta at a small school where I am the whole Old Testament department. Not everyone is that lucky. 

If you're still waiting for good news, hang in there. Keep plugging away at your work. Rejection is not a dead end. It's simply a step on the journey. I can't promise that your hard work will turn into a tenure-track position, but in my experience, none of gets wasted. Your day will come.

Whose Side is God On? An Inauguration Day Reflection

Four years ago, President Donald Trump took the oath of office and all over America hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in protest, some of them violent, all of them deeply concerned. Christians from Catholic, mainline, Black, and Brown churches expressed shock and concern over the appointment of a man who seemed to delight in exploiting women and to cozy up to dictators while snubbing America's allies. They feared that the most vulnerable members of our cities, especially immigrants and people of color, would be further marginalized by an administration aimed at the angst of blue-collar workers in rural America who were watching their way of life disappear. Meanwhile, many Evangelicals celebrated the possibility of greater religious freedom, conservative appointments to the judiciary, and legislation that upheld traditional family values and protected the unborn. Charismatic prophets heralded President Trump as God's man for the job.

Today, President Joe Biden will take the oath of office. Those troubled by the outgoing administration are breathing a sigh of relief, hoping for four years of police and prison reform, support for schools, greater equality women and minorities, and better cooperation in international concerns such as immigration and climate change. It remains to be seen how President Trump's supporters will respond, but the breach of the US Capitol building two weeks ago is still a vivid memory. Evangelicals who celebrated a Trump presidency are nervous about losing their freedom -- some desperate enough to break past police barriers to make their voices heard. The Coronavirus pandemic has already curtailed religious gatherings. Evangelicals fear that a Biden presidency will mean more pandemic-related restrictions that will cripple businesses and prevent the church from being the church. They fear a legislative agenda that will make it more difficult for faith-based organizations to live by their values.

Our nation is deeply divided. Many families are split right down the middle over politics.

Photo: Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

So whose side is God on?

Scripture provides a crystal clear answer to this question. Tucked away in the book of Joshua is a brief episode that should stop every one of us in our tracks. It stopped Joshua. It stopped me.

First, some context. Moses died. Before he did so, he passed the baton to Joshua as Israel's new leader. The people have just crossed the Jordan River and are preparing to take up residence in the land God promised them. Their first battle will be at Jericho. 

Joshua is alone, apparently scouting the territory around Jericho, when he encounters a man with sword drawn. Joshua asks him a logical question:

"Are you for us or for our enemies?" (Joshua 5:13 NIV)

The answer comes loud and clear:

"Neither," he replied, "but as the commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." (Joshua 5:14 NIV)

Neither?! This is remarkable. Joshua is the authorized leader of the only nation with whom Yahweh ("the LORD" in English translations) has made a covenant at Sinai. He has instructed them to enter the land and drive out its inhabitants. He has promised them this land. And yet -- with all these things in their favor, the commander of Yahweh's armies will not pledge exclusive loyalty to the Israelites.

God is not on their side.

And he is not on ours.

God does not take sides. Not then and not now. He acts of his own free will. We are the ones who must decide if we will be on God's side. He refuses to back human agendas. He calls us to surrender in obedience to his will.

Joshua gets this. He falls on his face before the angel of Yahweh, asking if God has a command he needs to fulfill.

If God was not unequivocally on the side of the Israelites -- the covenant people he rescued from Egypt and led through the wilderness to the land he promised -- if God is not on their side, then God is not on ours. He does not side with the United States (or modern day Israel, for that matter!), and he does not side with the Republicans or the Democrats. God does not take sides. Instead, he asks our full and complete obedience. Our allegiance to anyone other than God is idolatry. 

The truth of the angel's words is borne out in the chapters that follow. Joshua and his soldiers win their battle with Jericho, having followed God's unconventional instructions for war (Joshua 6). Feeling cocky, they attack the next city with only part of their army (Joshua 7). They lose miserably. God does not fight for them because a single Israelite man has violated God's strict instructions regarding the battle at Jericho. Achan keeps some of the plunder for himself, hiding it under his tent, rather than devoting everything to God. This battle was never meant to make the Israelites rich. They were not to fight out of greed, but out of obedience. The moment they forget this, they lose their divine protection.

God knows what's under the tent, then and now.

He's asking us to clean house. To search our hearts. To release our hold on what does not rightly belong to us.

God did not lose this election. Neither did he win. He wasn't running for office. 

Joshua 5 offers American Christians the foundation for a renewed political theology, one not tied to a political party or a certain candidate, but marked by deep humility. We must stop presuming that God is on our side, supporting our favorite candidate. It's the other way around. This scene issues an invitation for us to bow before the presence of the only one who deserves our allegiance. This is the only way forward.

ICYMI: Articles Around the Web in 2020

Normally at the end of the year I post a list of top blog posts of the year from my own blog (and I might still do that), but if you're a regular reader, you might have noticed that my blog has been quieter this year. In that relative silence, I was busy writing for other websites. I keep a complete list of articles here, but that page doesn't notify subscribers when I update it, so here's a handy list of the 15 articles I published elsewhere in 2020. 

From reflecting on Exodus to COVID, and from teaching and writing to Deuteronomy, these are the things that have been on my mind this year. I've starred a few of my personal favorites.

The Art of Taleh

* “Telling the Old, Old Story (Deut 26:5-10),” April 20, 2020.

The Biblical Mind

* "Freedom Fighters of the Exodus," November 17, 2020.

Canadian Society of Biblical Studies

"Misunderstanding Sinai? Author Interview with Carmen Imes," March 24, 2020.

Cateclesia

“Re-Interpreting the Name Command (Exodus 20:7)” May 6, 2020.

Christianity Today

"Connections that Count," Jesus Creed, Dec 30, 2020. 

* "What God Sees" and "Peace in the Storm," Advent Devotional, Dec 2020.  

* "Church after COVID--Why bother going back?," Jesus Creed, Sept 28, 2020. Reblogged at ChurchLeaders.com, Oct 13, 2020. 

"2020: The Gift Nobody Wanted," Jesus Creed, June 23, 2020. 

"Finding Life in Limbo," Jesus Creed, March 19, 2020.

Political Theology Network

"From Servitude to Service - Exodus 19," June 2020. 

Prairie College

 "How Do You Know if a 'Bible College' is Right For You?" Prairie blog, February 2020.

The Well (InterVarsity's blog for Women in the Academy and Professions)

"Pursuing Tough Conversations with Students," September 3, 2020. 

"A Prayer for Writers," April 15, 2020. 

"Notes from the Pandemic: Social Distancing and the Presence of God," March 23, 2020.