Vincent Donovan was a Catholic missionary to the Maasai in Tanzania in the 1960’s and 1970’s. His book Christianity Rediscovered (Orbis 1978) has been a best-seller ever since, and I am not the only teacher who has used it in classes on mission and evangelism to help students think through issues of Gospel and culture.

Shortly after the 2008 Vital Church Planting Conference, I shared some church planting principles with my sister on a winter camping trip.  Among other things, I explained the importance of understanding cultural context, and how evangelism and church planting efforts can be helped or hindered by geography.  Months later, for my birthday, she added to [...]

“Have you read The Shack?” If you haven’t been asked that question recently, you probably will be. The book has two claims to fame: it has topped the Globe and Mail fiction best-seller list for eleven weeks and counting—and it is not easy to find at Indigo. The former tells you lots of people are [...]

The name Eckhart Tolle is hardly a household name—at least, yet. Earlier this year, his book The New Earth, was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as the choice of her Book Club and has sold 3.5 million copies so far. (And to think I was excited that my Narnia book has sold almost 1,000!) He has [...]

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Many people love the Narnia stories. However, not all readers know the deep spirituality that underlies them. In some ways, the stories mirror Lewis’ own wrestling with his spiritual longings, and seek to help others on the same journey. He wants us to feel, as he himself came to feel, that what we long [...]

Books & Culture reviews Susan Strempek Shea’s journey through America’s churches.  Helpful to anyone wanting a fresh reminder of how Sunday morning worship is experienced by a visitor.  Click here to read more.

As a priest, I have had several conversations about The Da Vinci Code.  None have been as memorable as the one I enjoyed, not as a priest, but as a rock climber and a friend.  On a winter evening in 2004, between runs up the wall at the climbing gym, one of the guys asked [...]

At the heart of the courses I teach at Wycliffe College is the question of how to communicate Christian faith to people who are exploring their spirituality but know very little about Christianity. Of course, there’s a limit to how much you can learn about this in the classroom, so from time to time, I [...]