Category Archives: On the way to Sunday’s sermon

What is Language For?

Posted on May 22, 2014 by PaulVK

How We Are Once upon a time, two researchers named Richard Nisbett (a professor at the University of Michigan) and Tim Wilson (a professor at the University of Virginia) set up camp at their local mall and laid out four … Continue reading →

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Why Pray and Believe in a World of Genocide and Extinction?

Posted on May 16, 2014 by PaulVK

Faith in a Brutal World If you’re reading through the Hebrew Scriptures and you get to the book of Kings you’ll get accustomed to the “good kings” and “bad kings”. The descriptions are stark, black and white, good and evil. … Continue reading →

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The Insecure Grasp of Justin Bieber and the Need to be Rich to God

Posted on May 16, 2014 by PaulVK

Four Major Stories This Week Ukrainian Conflict with Russia China’s conflict with Vietnam over drilling rights Abduction of school girls in Nigeria Antarctic Ice Shelf is irreparably melting All four stories could be understood as violations of the command “You … Continue reading →

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Of Captured Girls, NASA Apocalypse, Following the Frog, Isaiah and Believing

Posted on May 9, 2014 by PaulVK

“NASA Predicts Collapse of Civilization” This story went viral and so will continue to go viral via Facebook repackaged by the Facebook targeted virus makers. It gets hosed by more careful and less ambitious sources but the dynamic is instructive. … Continue reading →

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What Is Marriage For?

Posted on May 8, 2014 by PaulVK

What is Marriage for? The marriage question has been front and center in church and society debates at least since the 60s. Same sex marriage is only the most recent debate but before it were questions about divorce, remarriage, pre-marital … Continue reading →

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Murder and the Cost of Love

Posted on May 2, 2014 by PaulVK

The Murder of Laci Peterson Why did the story of the murder of Laci Peterson catch the nation’s interest a decade ago? I think it had to do with the fact that they were nice looking, white, middle class, educated … Continue reading →

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When He Speaks Your Name Your Self Won’t End in Decay

Posted on April 17, 2014 by PaulVK

Knowing My Father My father passed away last year. Let’s imagine that right after my father’s death someone approached our family and said “I really want to know who Stan Vander Klay was. Would you give me permission to examine … Continue reading →

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Branden Eich, the Culture War and Palm Sunday

Posted on April 11, 2014 by PaulVK

Ideas Carry the World The Brendan Eich episode is the latest in our ongoing cultural conversation about belief, power and freedom in a pluralistic context. The world is filled with competing ideas on just about everything, and those ideas create, destroy, … Continue reading →

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Sickness Unto Death

Posted on April 3, 2014 by PaulVK

Why Didn’t Jesus Just Start Raising Lots of People? We saw with the Iranian Cleric raising the dead thought experiment that a person possessing this kind of power walking around among us would almost certainly provoke us to kill this person … Continue reading →

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Why Divine Personhood Offends us to the point of Deicide

Posted on April 3, 2014 by PaulVK

Raising the Dead Thought Experiment The above link is the raising the dead thought experiment where I discuss what might happen if an Iranian cleric was able to raise the dead and why the peoples of the world might have … Continue reading →

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