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Author: Stephen Rankin

The Church Needs a Gestalt Shift

“Gestalt” – a word some of us academic types use on occasion.  Gestalt has to do with perception, of seeing the whole, all at once, rather than parts.   Many more have surely seen the image of the woman/women that illustrates

Stephen Rankin July 21, 2020 Christian Life, Doctrine/Theology, Ministry, Religion, The Church 4 Comments Read more

Looking at Leviticus

Recently, I have been reading and listening carefully to the book of Leviticus. For most of us, this book does not rank high on our favorite Bible book list.  It is also the subject of unnecessarily heated debates about biblical

Stephen Rankin May 27, 2020May 27, 2020 Christian Life, Ministry, Religion No Comments Read more

Resurrection Realism

“So we do not lose heart.  Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” You can find this statement in 2 Corinthians 4:16. It’s relevant for thinking about the meaning of

Stephen Rankin April 18, 2020April 18, 2020 Christian Life, Doctrine/Theology, Ministry, Religion 3 Comments Read more

“His Winnowing Fork is in His Hand”

(I wrote this post, as you can see, two days ago.  I felt like I should sit on it and let it simmer before I hit “publish.) It’s Palm Sunday afternoon, 2020.  We have never seen a Holy Week like

Stephen Rankin April 7, 2020April 8, 2020 Christian Life, Religion, The Church 1 Comment Read more

The Twentysomething Soul #4 – Nones (Don’t Believe Everything You Read about Them)

In this last installment on my little series of reflections from Tim Clydesdale and Kathleen Garces-Foley’s book, The Twentysomething Soul, I focus on that oh so slippery demographic category, The Nones.  This cohort of emerging adults has suffered a good

Stephen Rankin December 18, 2019 College Ministry, Emerging adults, Higher and Theological Education, Religion, The Church No Comments Read more
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Meet Steve

I serve as Executive Director of the Spiritual Maturity Project, a ministry some of us have recently started.  For 25 years I worked in higher education as a professor and chaplain and before that as a pastor.  I love to help people grapple with big and basic questions to grow into real ,grown-up Christian discipleship.

I ruminate on all manner of theological, biblical, historical, and cultural topics. I believe followers of Jesus need to be more like members of Issachar’s tribe, able to read the times. Read more

 

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