Articles & Writings
The Washington Institute seeks to provide an array of resources to help nurture thinking about the wider world and and the joyful responsibility that is ours to history and to the world as we explore our common life together.
Articles & Writings
EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED: The Challenge of Being Perennial People
ArticlesYesterday I got a letter from a university professor in Uganda, wondering whether I thought students today were different than those of a generation ago—in particular, whether the cynicism of Beavis and Butthead had been replaced with the hope of Obama. It is a very good question. As I responded, I thought of the strangeness of the question being asked by someone teaching in Africa, realizing one more time that the pop and political icons of America are the air we all breathe in the “hot, flat and crowded” globalizing world of the twenty-first century.
Full of Beans
Articles | AshworthI recently learned I have high cholesterol, which comes as a shock to my youngest-child-always-surprised-at-aging self. In response to the news, I've stepped up my walking program. I even walk the treadmill at the YMCA when the temperature dips down—something I'm loathe to do, since I'd rather be outside moving from one place to another, enjoying the scenery. The treadmill became tolerable only after I realized I could read a book and walk at the same time!
Let It Flow Out
Articles | RobertsBishop N. T. Wright is arguably one of the most important theologians writing today. He's published everything from weighty theological tomes like Christian Origins and the Question of God, to accessible commentaries like Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, to inspirational books like Simply Christian and Surprised by Hope. When N. T. Wright agreed to lead an intimate retreat at Laity Lodge, we took the opportunity to ask him about honoring God in everyday life and work.
LOOKING BEHIND THE FABRIC
Articles | Engaging | GarberYears ago now, I began to wonder why it was some students I had loved kept at the vocation of their faith, and others did not. Never a theoretical idea, these were people that had become part of my heart. We had walked together, read together, prayed together, laughed together.
And then, inch by slow inch, they began to walk away, disconnecting what they said mattered most from the way they made decisions about both the present and the future—and over time they became different people.
Your Heart Is a Political Force
Articles | NaugleDecember 13, 1999, Republican debate in Des Moines, then-Texas governor and presidential hopeful George W. Bush was asked, as were the others in the exchange, who was his favourite political philosopher. Which political thinker did he identify with the most, and why?
As the third candidate to respond to this query, Bush stated forthrightly: "Christ, because he changed my heart." When the moderator asked for more, Bush added, "When you turn your heart and your life over to Christ, when you accept Christ as the saviour, it changes your heart. It changes your life. And that's what happened to me."
Your Work Matters to God!
Articles | StewartDo you sometimes wonder if your work has any real meaning to God? In light of eternity, is my job really seen as significant in God's view? Is it merely to provide a conduit of evangelism? Is it just something for me to do in order to pay the bills that are due each month? Do you sometimes feel you live a double life - church on Sunday, but back to work life on Monday? Could it be possible that our spiritual life, our faith, can have something to do with the making of money?
A CHURCH OF GREAT GRACE AND GREAT TRUTH: The Call to the Convocation of Anglicans in North America
Articles | GarberPerhaps your images of Switzerland are forever formed by “The Sound of Music.” Or maybe you’ve walked through its meadows and across its mountains yourself, astounded by its beauty. A few years ago my wife and I spent a week there, hiking and biking, and had a wonderful time together, drawing in as deeply as we could the vastness of its Alpine glory. What drew us in particular was the importance of visiting our daughter in a little village in the Alps, which for more than 50 years has been the home to a community called L’Abri; she had spent several years there during her 20s, moving from being a student to being a staff member, what they call a worker.
One day I asked about a Wi-Fi connection, and she told me that the little Protestant church in the village was a good place, saying that a nearby chalet might provide me a way into the wider world. So I walked that direction . . .
A Reason for Being
Articles | GarberFor people who care about America and its history—past, present, and future -- the stakes are not small, for the church and for the culture. It is for this reason that The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation, and Culture has come into being. With a vision that is at the same time very local and embodied, and very national and international, we are a network of men and women who are learning about the meaning of vocation, of what it means to hear God as he calls people to care for the world in his name. We believe it is a strategic place to begin— seeking the renewal of our common life as we do so.
A Wound in My Heart Has Been Healed
Articles | GarberOn Kenya, Kazakhstan, and K Street too
Why is it that when we pray together as the people of God gathered for worship on Sunday, we regularly pray for our missionaries in Kenya and Kazakhstan, but not for our attorneys on K Street?
Blood Water Mission: One band's journey from Nashville to Africa
Articles | GarberWhy is it that some people see themselves as implicated in the way the world is, and isn’t? in the way things are, and ought to be? There is nothing in the record deal signed by the Jars of Clay that requires them to care about the complexities of Africa, particularly about the structural problems that are horribly difficult and so very long-term. There are no cheap fixes. Only deep commitment, a sense of responsibility marked by love, will do.
