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Posts by David Horner



  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    Years ago, a friend gave a provocative talk in a seminary chapel on “Why I Stopped Going to Church.” His point was that church is something we are,...

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner, Deborah Horner — 

    This post includes the testimony of Debbie Horner, wife of faculty member Dave Horner, whose family was transformed during the Jesus Movement. The...

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    Faith and Reason were brothers. More than that, they were friends — indeed, best friends. Faith and Reason loved each other deeply and did...

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    We run on hope. Hope gets us out of bed—it energizes us, it focuses our attention, it pulls us out of ourselves. Hope overcomes our fears. As Tim...

  • The Good Book Blog

    Virtue Ethics Turns 60

    The Revolution Gets a Senior Discount

    David Horner — 

    Has virtue ethics become old and creaky? Irrelevant? Its energy spent or dwindling?

  • Talbot Magazine

    Best of the Blog

    Getting Clear About Tolerance

    David Horner — 

    Tolerance has become the only absolute virtue in our society: Thou shalt be tolerant (and, of course, thou shalt not tolerate anyone who isn’t)....

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    In the world of science there is no more prestigious institution than Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory, home to more than two centuries...

  • The Good Book Blog

    Are All Religions Created Equal?

    Just How Many Ways Are There to Make Peace with God?

    David Horner — 

    Smorgasbords are tempting to the eyes and to the taste buds. Once a person has witnessed the extensive varieties of delicacies spread out in a fine...

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    A popular analogy purporting to illustrate the truth of religious pluralism tells of four blind men who discover an elephant. Since the men have...

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    Tolerance has become the only absolute virtue in our society: Thou shalt be tolerant (and, of course, thou shalt not tolerate anyone who isn't)....

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    Because of health issues, it’s been more than two years since I last contributed to this series. I'm grateful to be back! To follow the thread of...

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    ... Suffering is not only physical. It’s also emotional, psychological, relational and spiritual. Victims and their families have internal wounds and struggles; some find this pain equal to or even greater than that of their external wounds. Sufferers need comfort, love, a taste of goodness, a measure of peace. They need hope ...

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    "GOD ISN’T FIXING THIS," New York’s Daily News announced in the aftermath of the latest US mass shooting, in San Bernardino. Their target? Presidential candidates who immediately responded to the tragedy by offering sufferers their “thoughts and prayers,” not calling for more gun control.

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    A wise person builds his or her house on a solid and lasting foundation. According to Jesus, such a foundation is rooted in him and his teaching about life. The wise person, said Jesus, “hears these words of mine and puts them into practice” (Matthew 7:24). It’s a call to follow what Jesus says as our authority. Claims to authority grind in our cultural gears. But this is often based on confusions about what authority is and what it means to follow it. In this series we’re unraveling some of those confusions ...

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    In this audio recording, David Horner, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, shares about Epiphany and its significance in the life of the Christian.

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    The Bible claims to be our supremely authoritative guide to life. But isn’t it irrational, oppressive, or even dangerous to base our lives on an ancient book—any book—rather than to “think for ourselves”? My claim in this short series is that basing our lives on the Bible is exactly what thinking for ourselves leads us to do—if we’re thinking well ...

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    How could it be reasonable to base my life on an ancient book (the Bible was written between 2000 and 3500 years ago)? Indeed, how could it be reasonable to base my life on any book? I should think for myself. To live by someone else’s instructions is to surrender my own mind and personality. That approach produces mindless drones, cultists and terrorists. Yet for two millennia, followers of Jesus from every culture and language have followed the Bible as their authority, from simple folks to some of history’s most influential scholars and intellectuals, from poor people with no political power to those in positions of great influence. And the world is radically different as a result.

  • The Good Book Blog

    David Horner — 

    My family’s business, in the modest Colorado town where I grew up, was a foundry. For the uninitiated, a foundry is like a steel mill. Its basic operation is to melt ore (in our case, iron, brass, and aluminum) in a furnace, pour it into molds, and thereby produce metal castings. Our family joke was that my parents were “in the iron and steel business” – my mom would iron while my dad would steal. (I’ll spare you the rest of the foundry jokes.) Foundry work is hard, hot, dirty, and notoriously dangerous. Our furnace room temperature was 140 degrees fahrenheit.