Is the Book of Esther repeating itself? Originally appeared at the Washington Times on March 22, 2024 and Christian Post on March 23, 2024. Purim, which begins on Saturday March 23, is a Jewish holiday, not a public holiday. And yet it should be remembered by others — especially this year — and especially by Christians. Subscribe to have The Washington Times’ Higher Ground delivered to your inbox every Sunday. Purim, also called the Festival of Lots, recalls a riveting story found in The Hebrew Scroll of Esther, or what Christians call the Book of Esther. It’s about th ..read more

Why a robust university core curriculum matters Originally appeared at the Washington Times on March 6, 2024. In the past five months, it has become apparent to the general public that something is radically wrong with our colleges and universities. All kinds of reforms are being proposed to fix the higher education mess, from appointing new presidents to dismantling DEI bureaucracies. But many of these changes are merely cosmetic. The problem in higher education involves not just what students are being taught but what they are not being taught. So, how do we fix our colleges and universities ..read more

Originally appeared at The Federalist on February 27, 2024 Last semester I had a memorable conversation with a student at our university about writing. I was giving a lecture in a communications class on the importance of writing, specifically, how to write op-eds to influence public opinion and policy. This student raised his hand and politely but assertively told me that writing is “old school” and that he has moved on to images and videos. Now I don’t want to underestimate the importance and power of images and film for communication in our very visual culture, but neither did I want this s ..read more

George Bailey, Scrooge and the Grinch resonate because they represent us and our need for Christmas Originally appeared as an op-ed at Fox News on December 24, 2023. Do we really need Christmas? Some still wage war against it in the name of political correctness, diet, avoiding family conflict, debt relief and stress management, or not adding to global warming! My view is that you and I desperately need Christmas.  Some of our favorite Christmas stories are about the transformation of needy people. Think of George Bailey, from the beloved movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Geo ..read more

Why do children, after going to American colleges, turn out to be so hostile toward Israel? Originally published as an op-ed at FoxNews.com on October 12, 2023 The war that Hamas launched against Israel has unleashed other outbreaks of antisemitism around the world. We’ve observed large-scale celebrations of the murder of Israeli citizens, with crowds chanting “gas the Jews,” and even governments, such as Iran, celebrating this slaughter in the name of Islam. One place where these outbreaks are particularly conspicuous is on American university campuses. There are demonstrations and ..read more

Originally appeared as an op-ed at Townhall.com on December 13, 2023 The testimony of three university presidents at last week’s congressional hearing about antisemitism on American campuses continues to reverberate. What we heard and saw left many of us dumbfounded. Not a single one of them could clearly answer the question, “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate their school’s bullying and harassment policies?” Not one of them could say, “yes.” As a result, major donors to Harvard, MIT, and University of Pennsylvania have begun withdrawing support and calls for the resignation of the ..read more

Standing with Israel and the Jewish people is part of our duty as a Christian college Originally appeared as an op-ed at Fox News on December 8, 2023 The war between Israel and Hamas has dominated the headlines over the last two months. But there has also been a disturbing substory — namely, what’s happened to our universities. Countless Americans are shocked that so many college student groups would celebrate Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israelis. They’ve wondered why it’s been so hard for the elite universities to condemn Hamas’ terrorism or for college presidents to speak out clearl ..read more

Originally appeared as an op-ed at the Christian Post on Nov. 21, 2023 and the Washington Times on Nov. 23, 2023. A good friend of mine starts decorating his house for Christmas early in November. While I love his Christmas enthusiasm, I challenge him, “What about Thanksgiving?” I can’t bring myself to rush into the yuletide season, because, well, I need Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the perfect way to bring the year to a close. Why do we need Thanksgiving? Who do we thank? And how do we do it? Here is where one of the great psalms of the Bible, Psalm 103, helps me. It starts out, “Bless the L ..read more

This week I had the privilege of presenting another paper as well as participating in a panel at the annual gathering of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS), held this year in San Antonio, Texas. We were located a block from the Alamo (which is worth the visit and reminded me again that Texas once was another country!). ETS was formed in 1949 “to foster conservative Biblical scholarship” by providing a forum for “the oral exchange and written expression of thought and research” in the theological disciplines “as centered on the Scriptures.” (ETS Constitution, Article II). ETS and the Soc ..read more

Lightly edited rough transcription of a chapel talk given at Colorado Christian University on November 7, 2023. Based on Esther 3:1-6 and Psalm 83. For this chapel, I was asked by Pastor Paul Faust to speak about the legacy of our faith and aspects of our Christian heritage. But given the events of the past month, I decided I’m not going to speak on that topic. Instead, I want to lead us in a time of reflection on the extraordinary events of October prompted by the attack on Israel. But I want to take you to the Scirptures to try to shed some light on how we should think about all the things t ..read more