Christian Carnival

Welcome to this week's Christian Carnival, a showcase of Christian thought in the blogosphere. Christian writers are invited to submit their best posts from the last week. If you would like to participate in or host future Christian Carnivals, please refer to our guidelines.

Book Reviews

Shawn Anthony of lofitribe sends us a review of The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch.

Weekend Fisher of Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength continues the Tolkien series wth a look at how Frodo looks at Gollum and sees himself in Christianity in Tolkien: Compassion and Redemptio

Christians Confronting Culture

The Journey sends us Exiles: Living Missioinally in a Post-Christian Culture. We live in a time when more followers of Jesus are living outside the church than ever before. People who are still very keen to follow Christ are giving up on going to church. What does that say about the people that are 'dropping out' and what does it say about the church?

Tantalizing if True  asks What Would Jesus Listen To?, "an unsatisfying attempt at scoring the
life of Jesus Christ with Christian radio music."

The Bloke ...in the outer... gives us a glimpse into his mind with Melodic Juxtaposition. What happens when a hip-hop rap group invades a Vienna Boys' Choir concert?

Beyond the Rim... shares Lent 07: Day 23 - The Comforting Cowardice of Atheism, thoughts on the phrase "the comforting cowardice of atheism", taken from a John Mark Reynolds article. The focus is on the difference between atheism's avoidance of consequences and God's total embrace of them through the agape of his nature.

Pseudo-Polymath sends us Behold? Cans, worms, and the Lid Ajar?  saying " I attempt to engage others in a modern discussion on race and gender, seen through the lens of Patristic Theological thought."

The Journey contributes Freemasonry Freemasonry has been a subject that has divided people for many years. Some church leaders have entered fully into Freemasonry while others have denounced it as evil. So what do Freemasons believe? Where did it all begin? Should we embrace Freemasonry or are there legitimate warnings we should heed?

Thoughts of a Gyrovague send us Man in all his extreme lunacy and passionate grace.  A posting encouraging us as citizens to ask ourselves the question "but at what cost" when doing anything from crafting social policy, to the every day workings ouf our everyday living.

Doctrine and Bible Study

Martin LaBar of Sun and Shield contributes What I Believe about Origins, which he says "is an attempt, for what it's worth, to set forth what I believe is true about how the universe, the earth, and living things came to be as they are."

Richard of dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos theophilos demonstrates how Jerusalem remains the center of action in Centrality of Jerusalem in Luke.

THEOdyssey  sends Orthodoxy – Part One: The Resurrection.

Amanda of Imago Dei contributes thoughts on one of my favorite topics in What is Grace?

Thinking Christian shares The Beauty of Explanation: The Human Condition. As in science, so in other fields, a simple, well-fitting solution often points toward reality. Thus it is with the Biblical explanation of the human condition.

Vons Takes contributes On Logic and Scriptural  Interpretation. We often say that something is 'Scriptural' or 'Unscriptural'.  How do we know?

The Participatory Bible Study Blog helps our Bible study along with  From Word to Study, continuing a series on word studies with some things that one CAN do without knowing Biblical languages.

The Parableman contributes Historical Inerrantists, a response to the claim that inerrancy is a relatively new doctrine in the history of the church.

Living the Life

What I Learned Teaching Sunday School send us Christians, Trials and Jesus.

Is Work Worship? On Glorifying God Through Studies and Other Efforts. Read the discussion at The Blog Of Dysfunction.

So what can a Christian learn from a Saturday night stand-up comic?  Find out in this post about laughter, gratitude, and service from John at Light Along the Journey.

The Trivium Pursuit Blog shares a word of encouragement from a Christian classic, The Desire of the Soul by Charles H. Spurgeon.

Church Hopping sends us Muscular Christianity.  A growing trend in the Church is a more manly Christianity.

Thought Renewal sends us Developing a Biblical PMA.

The Church

Shops being burned, believers being spat on, hit, beaten and arrested. We all could probably name countries where this is happening.  There is one country where this is happening that I'm not sure most people are aware of.  This post highlights that country and the trouble believers are having there. Veracity-The Way shares the story in Persecution.

What are the differences in the central fears that drive some different major theological branches of Christianity? I take that up at Brain Cramps for God in "What Do We Fear?"

Brian Russell from Real Meal Ministries has posted an essay, “Missional Leader as Sculptor of Ethos”, that sketches out a vision for Christian leadership for the 21^st century in the Western world.

Fish and Cans sends us Posts I've Appreciated This Week, "some posts I've blogspotted, plus some commentary on how churches treat their pastors.