It’s that time of year again, when I do a round up of memorable happenings during the last calendar year. (You can read last year’s post here). It is important to say this rundown only represents a slice of my life, in at least three ways.
First, as my children get older, I am more reticent to share about their lives; thus my focus tends to be on my work. Second, I tend to share “wins” rather than “losses”; every life has lots of both. Third, everyone has an inner life that includes unspoken feelings – hopes, fears, and groans too deep for words. Like everything posted online, this is a curated list. But hopefully it is a true list, even if it cannot tell all the truths. And hopefully it can also communicate something beyond what can be said.
Having offered this caveat, here are some important snapshots of what’s been happening in my life this year, in terms of speaking, writing, teaching, and living.
Speaking
I enjoyed several trips for speaking engagements, but the highlight came just a couple weeks ago. I was invited to give a talk at a George MacDonald conference hosted at Yale (my first time to New Haven), where I also got to participate in a panel discussion on the theology of MacDonald in relationship with Calvin. My fellow panelists were Julie Canlis and Trevor Hart (both of whose work I immensely respect). The conference was hosted by two other academic heroes, Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson and the poet Malcolm Guite. At the conference, we got to handle some of MacDonald’s papers and letters, and Malcolm recorded a video in the room. (Watch the whole thing or skip to 5:30 to listen to him read my favorite letter of MacDonald’s!)
Including this conference paper, I gave 25 talks this year, including 15 congregational sermons, 3 chapel talks, 1 conference plenary, 1 academic lecture (below), 2 commencement addresses, and 2 professional development events. I continued as a ecclesial fellow for the Center for Pastor Theologians and concluded my board service at the Center for Public Justice. My travels took me to New York, Texas, D.C., North Carolina, Michigan, and Connecticut.
Writing
The major news in this area is that I have submitted my manuscript for my next book, to be published by Baker Academic (likely early 2026). It is provisionally titled Discipling the Diseased Imagination.
In addition to my work on this book, I also finished two book chapters (forthcoming in 2025), one on the theology of George MacDonald and one on pneumatology and the arts (the cover was just released!)
I had two journal articles published this year (written before this year, but the publishing process takes a long time!):
- The Mercy Seat: An Artistic Grammar for Substitutionary Atonement (Spiritus)
- The Medicine of Humility for Pastor Theologians (CPTJ)
I also had the opportunity to write a handful of shorter articles (mostly for the Banner; I’ll be taking a break as a regular columnist next year):
- Silence or sermon? the desperation and dread of “telling the truth” (Buechner Review)
- The Reformed Reasoning Behind Think Christian (Think Christian)
- Taking Off Our Shoes: Presence and Courage in Contested Times (Converge)
- If People Go to Heaven Immediately After Death, Was it Cruel to Bring Lazarus Back to Life? (The Banner)
- Is It Wrong to Continue Asking God for Something Over and Over Again? (The Banner)
- Should We Say ‘Lord’ and ‘Father God’ in Every Sentence of Prayer? (The Banner)
- What Is the Difference Between Spiritual Warfare and Culture War? (The Banner)
- Must I Reject My Non-Western Culture When Becoming a Christian? (The Banner)
- Why Don’t We Spend Much Time on Apologetics Anymore? (The Banner)
Teaching and “other duties as required“
I taught five classes this year: 1) Biblical Foundations, 2) Aesthetics, 3) Senior Seminar, 4) Christian Ethics, 5) Christianity Pop Culture. All of the sections were great but two of the classes stand out as among the top five classes I’ve ever had the privilege to teach. The first one was my Theology Senior Seminar class in the spring. Part of the reason I enjoyed it so much is that I usually teach classes of 30+ students and this class was just 6 students – theology majors or minors in their final year. The class was deep and reflective and it was a joy to get to learn from these students each week.
The second standout class just concluded: Christianity and Popular Culture. I’ve taught a version of this class five or six times, but there was something different about this class. Their curiosity, energy, and engagement was off the charts, and it was an absolute privilege to teach them. I honestly feel moved just thinking about it. I wish I could bottle whatever happened in that class, but part of the joy is the way that it exceeded every expectation; we cannot insist on having things happen the same way again.
In addition to teaching, I produced 15 new episodes of the In All Things podcast.
Work-wise, a few other highlights are worthy of mention.
The Dordt theology department shared the chapel podium with campus ministries, giving 9 of the chapel messages on the Parables of Jesus this fall. It was very enjoyable to get to do this as a department; I was regularly in awe of my colleagues’ ability to take difficult or familiar passages and breathe fresh life into them. One of our students surprised us last week with a book of poems that she composed in response to the chapel series. What a gift!
Another major endeavor we’ve been involved with as a department has been to lead a group of faculty through Calvin’s Institutes this year. When we came up with the idea, we hoped to have about 20 participants in two groups. But we have over 60 participants in five groups! We are just over halfway through and plan to continue in the new year.
Finally, another highlight was organizing and joining just over 30 faculty members on a retreat, focused on rest and refreshment rather than pedagogy and productivity. I definitely hope we will do this again soon!
Living
My energy for investing in institutional culture is at an all time high, and this is 100% because of the experience that was the highlight of my year and also of my professional life thus far. I am placing this under “living” rather than work because although it was technically a work trip, it brought renewal to almost all areas of my life. A group of 10 took a trip to Los Angeles to spend time with Rich Mouw.
I wrote about it here and here. Here’s what I wrote about it in April:
“As faculty, we all attend professional conferences, and while they are enjoyable, there is almost always something to produce (a paper, a presentation) in order to participate. It is rare to just show up and be given to. It is rare to be given so much space to play. It is rare to live with others in a “gift economy,” that escapes the feeling of transaction. We all felt that we were receiving a profound gift, supremely from Rich, but also from others, like the friends who let us use their house to meet. It also felt like receiving gifts from each other. This last piece was crucial; everyone offered themselves fully to the experience and to the others on the trip. Joy cannot be manufactured, but we can create space in which it is more likely to occur. But there has to be space, and generosity creates space. If there is no space to “play with ideas” (to use a phrase from Rich), then we will increasingly operate from a place of scarcity rather than abundance.”
Generosity is generative – and so much of the generativity I’ve been a part of this year (including the faculty retreat, the Calvin group, and the chapel series) flowed out of this group and this experience. This is the theme for the year: generosity begets generativity.
This brings me to the final happening which for my family is undoubtedly the most significant. We built and moved into a new house. It has been wonderful.
Wherever you find yourself at the end of 2024, my prayer for you is that generosity will give birth to generativity of the best kind in the year ahead.