The Stories We Need
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The Stories We Need

The stories I grew up with linked oranges with Christmas and chocolate with Holland’s liberation. That smooth, sweet taste triggers memories for many Dutch people who lived to see the arrival of smiling Canadian soldiers and to hear the laughter of free people. What was Liberation in the Netherlands like, 75 years ago? Tiny Bolderheij smiles at the question.

The Soldier

The Soldier

I was in my early teens during the years of World War II, 1940-1945, having been born in 1930. Though those events took place more than half a century ago, I remember some details clearly.

The Sight of Old Stones
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The Sight of Old Stones

My kids had a week off from school earlier this month, and we decided to visit Stonehenge. The bigger kids and I had been to the stone circle before, but we hadn’t explored the wider area, and the Spouse and the youngest hadn’t been there at all, so it seemed like a good educational trip. Something old, something new.

‘Who was the guilty?’
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‘Who was the guilty?’

On the surface, this is a story about lost innocence, betrayal and shame, but at a deeper level it is a haunting study of post-WWII German guilt about the Holocaust. By the author’s own admission, the book asks, “Who is to blame for the Holocaust?”

‘The Lord upholds faltering feet’:
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‘The Lord upholds faltering feet’:

I have never met Helen Bosch. I only know her through the email messages we’ve exchanged over the past week. However, even though we’ve never seen each other and we live half a country away, she wants to tell me her story for the Heritage Project.

Nationalism as religion: Turkey
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Nationalism as religion: Turkey

Has Turkish nationalism finally run its course?

Sultan Erdoğan and the revived Ottoman Turkey
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Sultan Erdoğan and the revived Ottoman Turkey

Thirty-six years ago today, just after I had begun graduate studies at the University of Notre Dame, we heard news of a coup d’état in Turkey. The civilian government in the capital city of Ankara had been overthrown, and the military was now in charge

A history, told in the shadow tongue
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A history, told in the shadow tongue

Now if your experience is anything like mine, you may have noticed that times of change are when Christians turn on one another, flinging accusations of heresy and false witness. Churches split like this all the time. Let this go on long enough, and you have assorted armies of one, each convinced they are the true bearers of the old ways and vowing vengeance on any and all who say otherwise.

When freedom came
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When freedom came

Listening respectfully to another’s story is simply this: love.

Unbroken in war, healed by grace
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Unbroken in war, healed by grace

For 50 years the option of filming Louis Zamperini’s life story sat on a shelf at Universal Studios waiting for someone to have enough confidence in the subject to make it happen. Tony Curtis was chosen to play Louis, but it never got off the ground.

The flag plus 50

The flag plus 50

On February 15, our well-known flag will be 50 years old.

A dead, white hymn-writer revisited
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A dead, white hymn-writer revisited

Whether you sing “praise and worship” songs, traditional hymns or both at your church, I encourage you to reconsider the hymn texts of a dead white guy, born 340 years ago, whom you may have overlooked. We learn more theology from what we sing in church than we do from the sermons we hear.