Carefully screen out those “exes” – ex-Illuminati, ex-Jesuits, ex-Mormon, ex-and-so-on

There is a whole genre of exposé literature, interviews, videos that follows this formula: “I am an ex-[whatever] and I am going to reveal the shocking inside secrets.” Ex-Communist. Ex-Mormon. Ex-Janitor at Area 51. Ex-Catholic priest (Charles Chiniquy, Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, 1885). Ex Guy-who-sprayed-chemtrails-from-my-jet (see below). Ex-Jesuit (Jack Chick's man, "Alberto,"... Continue Reading →

July 20, 2019 0

The Notre Dame Fire reveals how we find “the truth”

Fire destroys. But when a building burns, the fire also reveals: old art, former paint jobs, things hidden for centuries. And the most striking thing the flames revealed was how we interpret events. It turns out that we are hardwired away from objectivity in our interpretations, that we will make snap judgments about who did... Continue Reading →

April 17, 2019 5

My new book “Iceberg Ahead!” – an excerpt

I have been working on and off for the past few years on a new book. It is a real departure for me, working through how to face ministry disappointments, whether minor or major. What happens when God's servants face apathy, ingratitude, racism, psychological issues, physical ailments, lies, and other problems? Our solution is not... Continue Reading →

July 19, 2018 3

The ‘Ultracharismatics’ of Corinth and the Pentecostals of Latin America as the Religion of the Disaffected

Originally published as: “The ‘Ultracharismatics’ of Corinth and the Pentecostals of Latin America as the religion of the disaffected.” Tyndale Bulletin 56.2 (2005): 91-110. This is a detailed exegetical study, more technical than most of what I post on this blog. To download the article as a pdf, click here Ultracharismatics in Corinth and in Latin... Continue Reading →

April 13, 2018 0

The Solitude of the Dusky Cave

When I first saw the title of the epic novel Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel García Márquez, and got that it meant “one hundred years of solitude,” my heart leapt in anticipation. But 500 pages later, I finally grasped that the protagonists of the story didn’t get their promised seclusion; the title seems to... Continue Reading →

December 23, 2017 2

Christians and “Coincidences” or Is There a Hex in the Patternicity?

This article has many images and footnotes; I encourage the reader to download it as a pdf here: Shogren_Christians and Coincidences It happened just the other day: I had been thinking about James Bond, and later when I pulled out a form of identification for the bank teller, I noticed that my ID number began with 007!... Continue Reading →

March 20, 2017 1

“Children of the Light” 1 Thess 5:4-11 [Sermon Notes on 1 Thessalonians, Week 14]

Note: These are sermon outlines, not full messages. Let's begin with a "tip" for Bible reading – it's a good idea to look for repetition, repeated words or ideas. This certainly helps in the case of this passage. I would like you to look for pronouns: we, our, us; you; they, them, those 4 But you, brothers... Continue Reading →

September 23, 2015 2

Why Do People Go to Heaven?

Notice that I didn't say how they get there, I mean why they have traveled there and then returned to tell us all about it. For the past few decades, people have dived into writing up their experiences of heaven – and a few times, of hell – published bestselling books and hit movies. For... Continue Reading →

January 19, 2015 26

“The Paranoid Style in American Politics” has its 50th Anniversary

[One of my few blog entries on politics, and how it relates to psychology, sociology, and modern apocalyptic eschatology. Here is a full pdf version: Paranoid Style Turns 50_Shogren] Because of his ability to describe and predict American political behavior, Richard Hofstadter’s “The Paranoid Style in American Politics” should be required reading for the citizen. And... Continue Reading →

December 19, 2014 18

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