Life in Translation
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Life in Translation

For two weeks this past fall, I lived my life in translation. This was not my first time in Taiwan, but from the moment I landed in Taipei I was aware that most of my encounters and experiences involved mediation. Often this was through the kind and gracious work of translators – those who worked…

Praying in Schiphol airport
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Praying in Schiphol airport

“The Qur’an is a masterpiece of language,” my tour guide says, her face radiant. “It’s a miracle.” “I experienced some of that beauty,” I say shyly. “I memorized al-Fatihah.” “You memorized al-Fatihah?” I don’t blame her incredulity. I had cold called a mosque in downtown Oshawa, and my tour guide was the founder’s wife. She…

Reaching the Hispanic world
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Reaching the Hispanic world

Last month I was delighted to receive in the mail a hefty copy of Visiones e Ilusiones Políticas, the Spanish translation of Political Visions and Illusions, which had just come out days earlier. Published by Teología para Vivir in Lima, Peru, it is a hard-bound volume running to 420 pages in eminently readable print and…

A new song for Indigenous Sunday
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A new song for Indigenous Sunday

“The Lord is God. He watches over all the lands, and we are put together, from the earth, by His hands,” sang Don Amero, a Cree musician and member of a Winnipeg CRC church. They are the opening lyrics to a song Amero wrote for the Canadian Indigenous Ministry Committee (CIMC). The committee’s focus for…

More than one pronoun for God
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More than one pronoun for God

I have grown up in a Christian culture that consistently portrays God as a “he.” What if we begin to describe God with multiple pronouns including “they,” “she” and “he”? I believe this would benefit Christians and improve our perceptions of God. The English language is not stagnant. As John McWhorter recounts, when “thou” fell…

God’s Language Spoken Everywhere
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God’s Language Spoken Everywhere

In May 2018, my wife Rose and I travelled to the Netherlands for a week-long boat and bike. After completing the tour, we took the Saturday morning train to Dordrecht to visit my second cousins and the home of the 1618 Synod of Dort.

A new language
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A new language

This is how a baby acquires language: she begins with an unwitting exploration of the sounds her mouth can form and then attaches meaning to them, syllable by syllable, as she hears them repeated by the people around her.