Category: Culture

The Five Loves—and the Highest of These Is Agape Love

In the article below, Dr. Boa synthesizes material from several teaching sessions from his series Biblical Principles for Marriage and from portions of his spiritual formation text Conformed to His Image (primarily from chapter 18, “Holistic Spirituality”). Dr. Boa focuses on agape love as one of the five forms of loves (based on the different Greek words). After reviewing all forms, he gives reasons for why agape is the greatest.

Man sitting alone thinking

4 Factors in Preparing for Holiday Conflict

Unavoidable Conflict The notion that the holidays serve as little more than emblems of family dysfunction is now a cliche, fodder for countless jokes, movies, and television shows. From National Lampoon’s A Christmas Vacation to The Ref, the modern take on the holiday season is decidedly cynical.  These

A Tale of Two Revolutions, Part 2

The Situation in Britain English society may have moved beyond the medievalism of the Ancien Régime in France, but in many ways the situation in Britain was just as dire for the lower classes. England was in the middle of the Enclosure Movement, a major disruption of rural

A Tale of Two Revolutions, Part 1

“History is a vast early warning system.” —Norman Cousins A Bit of History Europe in the second half of the eighteenth century was a mess.  On the continent, a system known as the Ancien Régime (roughly, the Old Order) governed political and social life.  Particularly in France, it

Default Paradise

W.H. Auden says, “All the judgments, aesthetic or moral, that we pass, however objective we try to make them, are in part a rationalization and in part a corrective discipline of our subjective wishes.” It is therefore incumbent on critics, maintains Auden, to spell out clearly their version

The Practical Root of Unbelief

Casual Atheism   Christian men and women ought to be highly skeptical of the word practical as it’s often used in everyday conversations. When we scrutinize its usage, we discover that it frequently serves as a kind of shorthand for one of the most basic but profound forms of

What Are We to Make of the Revival at Asbury?

  A Note of Hesitancy As of this writing, the events unfolding in the auditorium of Asbury’s chapel are getting more and more difficult to explain away. What began as a routine chapel service on Wednesday, February 8th has transformed into a perpetual worship service, drawing crowds from

New Reflections Podcast

Dr. Kenneth Boa and Reflections Vice President, Stuart McAllister, have launched a new podcast that explores the riches of the Christian life from the standpoint of two seasoned veterans of the faith. Taking their cues from T.S. Eliot’s poetic declaration that “old men ought to be explorers,” Dr.