Mike Wittmer

Category: Christian Worldview

  • the evolution of death

    When I was writing my dissertation on H. Richard Niebuhr, I was confused by his use of the terms “creation” and “fall.” At times he seemed to distinguish them as separate events, while elsewhere he seemed to run them together. My confusion was clarified when Langdon Gilkey published a book on Richard’s brother, Reinhold Niebuhr.…

  • Jayber Crow

    I finished my first Wendell Berry novel this week. I picked Jayber Crow, which is a story about a balding bachelor barber who secretly “marries” Mattie, a much younger woman who is already married to a show-off that nobody likes. Jayber vows to stay faithful to Mattie and he does, though he never tells her…

  • deadly denial

    Yesterday Tim Challies excerpted one of the stories from The Last Enemy. It’s a moving story told by my friend, Jeff Halsted, who then was pastor of Indian River Baptist Church, about 30 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge. The story illustrates the importance of facing death with your eyes wide open, trusting yourself completely…

  • Why a book on death?

    My last two books have addressed consecutively the topics of hell and death, so I guess I’m mired in my blue period. I wouldn’t say I’m totally depressed, but my next project may be a history of the Chicago Cubs. The idea of writing a book on death occurred to me while watching Tom Brokaw’s…

  • the last enemy

    Today is the release of my book on death, The Last Enemy: Preparing to Win the Fight of Your Life. I kept the book small, with short chapters full of humorous and inspiring stories, so it would be enjoyably read by anyone. And since we’re all going to die, I think we all need to…

  • mainstreaming homosexuality

    Last night I witnessed another significant step in our culture’s embrace of homosexual practice. You can tell a minority group has achieved cultural power when it unapologetically ridicules another minority group. And last night the homosexuals of Modern Family took aim at Appalachians, apparently the one remaining group that even enlightened liberals enjoy mocking. In…

  • Elijah’s doolittle

    Continuing the theme of Elijah, I am intrigued by Barth’s comment that Ahab’s great sin was passivity (CD IV/1, 456), and I wrote up an Our Daily Journey post about it. I wonder about lumping heretics with Nazis under the broad heading of evil, but 1 Kings 21:25 does say that of all the evil…

  • true value

    I discovered an interesting piece of trivia during my reading on technology, and I thought it might have some homiletical value. You are welcome to use this illustration as it fits in your sermon or lesson, and as always, give productive feedback before I send it in to Our Daily Journey. And if you are…

  • the brotherhood of man

    I watched five minutes of the interminable Super Bowl pregame show, but the brief segment I saw included the cast of several NBC shows performing a Broadway song and dance called “The Brotherhood of Man.” In our day of gender inclusivity, when Bible translators worry that masculine pronouns might offend female readers, when professors tell…

  • glory and love

    Last evening a student asked if I have any insight on whether God is primarily a God of glory or love. Apparently this was being discussed among the pastoral staff at his church, and he intimated it was being bandied about more broadly. In case someone else has an interest in this topic, here is…