February 21, 2012
I have shared an elevator with the Managing Director of the IMF. It's in interesting feeling to exchange a smile with the woman recently gracing the cover of Newsweek magazine with the title, "The Trillion Dollar Woman." In a very real sense, she and her team of economists are given the task of fixing a frighteningly broken world. An economist and a pastor... are we not partners in the same task? A trillion dollar woman and a spirit-filled man?
February 16, 2012
Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) ignited a non-violent civil rights movement based on Jesus's command to love your enemy. At least that's what most people think. Jesus's command, however, provided only half of the ethical basis for this world-changing peacemaking effort. King's belief in the "image of God" (common grace) provided the other building block.
February 13, 2012
How do we make sense of the many good deeds done by those who do not follow Jesus? The way we answer this radically impacts how we relate to people and how we engage culture. That's why I consider it an indispensable issue for peacemakers.
February 9, 2012
Like most Americans, I am frustrated by the government. Polarization and gridlock of congress; attack ads and uncivil discourse; inability to stop the economic meltdown. What a mess! I feel like Nathanael did when he heard about Jesus for the first time: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” I have to ask, “Can anything good come out of Washington, DC?” Well, there is at least one good thing coming out of Washington, DC that we should rejoice over, and that is the National Prayer Breakfast.
February 7, 2012
If you live in the UK, you will certainly have heard of physicist Ziauddin Sardar (b. 1951, Pakistan), one of Britain’s top 100 public intellectuals, according to Prospect magazine. With over 45 books in print and hundreds of articles, he edits the journals Futures and Critical Muslim. Sardar is a university professor, a journalist of great repute, and a broadcaster. His most recent work is a three-part documentary, The Life of Muhammad, for BBC2. Sardar’s latest book, Reading the Qur’an: The Contemporary Relevance of the Sacred Text of Islam was published this year by Oxford University Press. I highly recommend it to you. It’s a fascinating introduction to the Qur’an and a captivating window into how one influential thinker reads it.
February 2, 2012
Let me give a gift to all of those burnt-out, disturbed, and anxious peacemakers out there! Here it is: Rest!
January 31, 2012
I lectured at the Bethlehem Bible College (BBC), founded by Bishara Awad, for the three years the Oslo Peace Process was getting underway (1993-1996). For my youth ministry courses, I required students to make several visits to the YMCA Rehabilitation Center in Beit Sahour, the village literally down the hill from Bethlehem (also the traditional site where angels told some shepherds about Jesus’ birth). There, they spent time with Muslim young men who had been shot or tortured by the Israeli military.
January 26, 2012
We highly recommend this TED talk by Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store. In it, he talks about the importance and positive impact of dialogue, even when the beliefs and values of both parties differ. Fantastic for peacemakers, and applicable to all kinds of relationships.
January 24, 2012
One of our favorite ethnic restaurants in the Phoenix area is a place called Jerusalem Foods, run by a Palestinian friend of ours. Peace Catalyst's Jim Mullins recently took our cameras on a tour of the place, so check out the video, and drop by the restaurant and enjoy it for yourself!
January 23, 2012
A favorite author of mine once mused, “I pictured semi-trailers on American interstates bearing slogans like ‘There is No God But Allah and Mohammed is His Prophet’ or a big blue Star of David with ‘That Jewish Carpenter Wasn’t Our Messiah.’” This author was pointing out the double standard that seems to exist among Christians about the right to publicly proclaim one’s faith tradition, rooted in the perception that Christianity is in danger of extinction in American society.
