Mike Wittmer

Month: March 2013

  • Easter weekend

    Karl Barth offers wise counsel this Easter weekend. He warns that we must not fixate on the cross alone, “like the ox which is bound to a stake and, driven by the owner’s whip, has to trot round and round the turning wheel.” Rather we must remember that we stand on the other side of…

  • honesty

    It’s been awhile since I ran an Our Daily Journey entry by you. There is still time to make changes if something stands out that needs fixing. read > Acts 4:32-5:11 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money…

  • creation and evolution

    Last Monday the seminary hosted John Walton for a provocative discussion on what the Bible, and in his talks specifically Genesis 1-2, says about creation. I think about Walton’s thesis like I think about the New Perspective on Paul—I like what it is for but not what it is against. I gladly add Walton’s functional…

  • he had Gonzaga (and missed on spring too)

  • St. Patrick’s Day

    I have never understood why people get so excited about St. Patrick’s Day. The only thing that makes any sense is that its closest competitors are President’s Day and Groundhog Day, so maybe people are looking for a reason to get sloshed. But my student, Todd Frederick, just passed me this video about St. Patrick…

  • marriage

    The lead story in today’s Grand Rapids Press is about Rob Bell’s support of gay marriage. I’m not sure why this qualifies as news (who didn’t already know this?), but I am sure that this kind of “journalism” is part of the reason the Press only delivers papers three times per week. The cynical side…

  • Adam, where art thou?

    I just read Peter Enns’ disturbing book, The Evolution of Adam, which attempts to integrate evolution with Paul’s belief in a historical Adam. If this book is the evangelical path to the future, our children are in a heap of trouble. Enns says that Paul clearly believed that Adam was the historical first man whose…

  • witty Barth

    I was reading “Reminiscences of Karl Barth” by John Godsey in the Princeton Seminary Bulletin, ns. 23, no. 3 (2002):  313-24, and came across a funny story that illustrates Barth’s quick wit. “After the service in a parish church where Barth had been preaching one Sunday, he was met at the door by a man…

  • bound together

    Friend and super pastor Chris Brauns has an important book coming out this week. Bound Together confronts the radical individualism of our day that not only scandalizes us when we read Scripture but also blinds us from understanding its most important points. We struggle to understand why Achan’s entire family was killed because of his…

  • VeggieTales

    Two weeks ago I spoke on faith at a men’s retreat in Lombard, Illinois, and I met a man who recommended a book that told the story of a once successful company in that town. I started Me, Myself, & Bob last night and finished it this morning. Wow. What a powerful, honest story about…