So as not to disturb their way of living...

Some Christians think they are able to do without constant spiritual effort because they do not heed the urgency of confronting themselves with the truth of the gospel. So as not to disturb their way of living, they attempt to empty, and make innocuous, words such as: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27). For these persons such words are difficult to accept and translate into a coherent conduct of life. In fact, they are words that, if taken seriously, demand a radical conversion.

                                                                                               Pope John Paul II

Preterism - the view that biblical prophecies have already been fulfilled

You will be both smarter and better-looking if you read this:

Rethinking Heaven and Hell: On Preterism, N.T. Wright and the Churches of Christ


That's right - we are on the cutting edge of contemporary eschatological thinking. 

[No jokes about blind squirrels or broken clocks, please.]

In all seriousness, this is one of the characteristic traits of Churches of Christ in which I take great joy. 

Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam M. Grant

Selfless giving, in the absence of self-preservation instincts, easily becomes overwhelming.  Being otherish means being willing to give more than you receive, but still keeping your own interests in sight, using them as a guide for choosing when, where, how, and to whom you give.

This was a very interesting and thought-provoking read.  I had always thought of concern for self and others as opposite poles of a single continuum.  As the table above illustrates, concern for self and others can be conceived as two interrelated axes.  The provocation of the book is the assertion that a strong dose of self interest is healthy.  It was very helpful to me in understanding why so often the best of intentions lead to burn-out.  And, more importantly, how to minimize burn-out in the future.

Walking Between the Times by J. Paul Sampley

Two times frame Paul's thought world or symbolic universe.  One is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which marks the origin of the new life of faith.  The other is Christ's return, or Parousia, which will signal the culmination of God's purposes with the world.  Paul is concerned with how believers behave, or walk, between these two times.

Paul is convinced that the new aeon has begun to break into the middle of the old aeon in a decisive way in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.  The new creation has begun (2 Cor. 5:17).  The present form of this world is already passing away (1 Cor. 7:31).

My attempt to visually depict how the two times relate to one another

What if education, including higher education, is not primarily about the absorption of ideas and information, but about the formation of hearts and desires?

What if the primary work of education was the transforming of our imagination rather than the saturation of our intellect?

What if education wasn't first and foremost about what we know, but what we love?

...how we think about distinctly Christian education would not be primarily a matter of sorting out which Christian ideas to drop into eager and willing mind-receptacles; rather, it would become a matter of thinking about how a Christian education shapes us, forms us, molds us to be a certain kind of people whose hearts and passions and desires are aimed at the kingdom of God.

--above quoted from James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom