Published Writings

Review: The Glory of the Ascension by W. Ross Hastings

_{March 2026 – Faith Today}

Tucked in between the glorious Resurrection and the epochal day of Pentecost is another event Christians too seldom think about – the Ascension. Thinking of the Ascension as little more than a footnote in the New Testament is a mistake, according to W. Ross Hastings…

“Have You Read Any Stan Fowler?”

_{February 2026 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

Dr. Stan Fowler (1946-2025) may not be a household name among evangelicals, but he was a faithful voice of biblical wisdom in the Canadian evangelical church (and beyond) for decades. Those of us who were blessed to have him as a professor remember his irenic and learned lectures…

Gilead Reveals a Gilded World

_{December 2025 – Front Porch Republic}

My mother handed me a little book called Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson, when I was in the height of my theological exuberance. Young men tend to make up in zealous certainty what they lack in wisdom and maturity, and I was typical…

The Enduring Moral Power of Christmas

_{December 2025 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

Is there any holiday with the moral power of Christmas? As it pertains to the popular imagination, Christmas is our last great shared event with the power to confront immoral selfishness and inspire moral goodness.

Book Review: Spiritual Warfare and Deliverance by Harold Ristau

_{November 2025 – Faith Today}

Is demonic activity on the rise? Harold Ristau, former Canadian military chaplain and active Lutheran clergy, says yes.…

Wrestling with Freedom

_{October 2025 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

I can still remember the gnawing anxiety, like mice scratching away in the walls of my mind. It was around Christmas, 2021, and our provincial government had announced mandatory …

The Psychedelic Renaissance: A Story of Hype and Hubris

_{September 2025 – The Gospel Coalition (USA)}

Amid the tumult roiling the West, a powerful renaissance of psychedelic drug use is sweeping through our culture. This resurgence results from…

Lessons from Writing History

_{2025 – Faith Today Blog}

Life has some special moments. For me, one of them was the first time I got to hold a book I had worked on for over a year. Not quite as special as holding my newborn babies…

He Descended to the Dead? Recovering Holy Saturday

_{2025 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

All Christians have heard or repeated those words: “He descended to the dead” or, “He descended into hell.” But what does that really mean? How and why would Christ go to hell?…

Why We Need Beautiful Churches

_{2024 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

On a recent trip through Nova Scotia, my family and I drove through the beautiful historic town of Mahone Bay, where three lovely old churches sit by the water’s edge...

Navigating Re-enchantment

_{2024 – Mere Orthodoxy}

I can remember the first time it dawned on me that my view of reality had gaps. I was an early twenty-something in a Bible College missiology class learning about the spiritual beliefs of different cultures.…

How Then Shall We Educate?

_{2024 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

My friend said something to me over breakfast that has been rattling around my old cerebrum ever since. We were talking about how different generations have approached raising Christian children…

Leaning into Evangelical Re-enchantment

_{2024 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

There’s a lot of talk about re-enchantment in some circles. But what is this term trying to describe? Simply put, it’s the feeling and experience that…

Review of Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age

_{2024 – Faith Today Magazine}

Have you ever prayed a mid-swipe prayer? It occurs when you are mindlessly scrolling through social media posts and…

The Coming Psychedelic Moment

_{2023 – Mere Orthodoxy}

Former Navy SEAL and popular podcaster Shawn Ryan has been open with his audience of millions about the benefits of psychedelics…

Review: The Air We Breathe by Glen Scrivener

_{2023 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

Christians making their way in the world today are confronted by a dizzying multitude of messages, each with their own baked-in moral assumptions…

God Has Moved in Québec, and Will Do So Again

_{2023 – Thrive Magazine}

In his landmark essay, “What Happened to Christian Canada?” Mark Noll writes that in the 1950’s church attendance in Quebec was around 90 percent…

Antidote: Five Strategies to Break free of Porn’s Poisonous Grip

_{2023 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

I’m not sure what is more alarming about the pervasiveness of porn use in our society, the statistics or the anecdotes of ruined lives…

They Came in White Vans

_{2023 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

“You guys wanna play some soccer?” I asked. They were standing around in groups of two, five, eight…

Pornography Poisons Everything

_{2023 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

In his 2017 book Cheap Sex, Catholic sociologist Mark Regnerus conducted a massive study of intimate relationships across America…

Family and Fatherhood: A Conversation with Jeremy Pryor

_{2023 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

I recently heard Kevin DeYoung mention that he likes listening to thinkers whose worldview overlaps with his but who have different areas of focus from him…

Looking Back: 3 Lessons from My Deepest Valley

_{2022 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

This year marks the ten-year anniversary of the lowest point in my life thus far. In 2012, while still in our mid-20’s, my wife and I went through burnout…

Christ and Consciousness

_{2022 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

There is a certain kind of person who asks “Why can I think? Why can I feel?” A kind of person who…

What Can We Learn from Deconversion Memoirs?

_{2022 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

If you’ve grown up in the church, chances are you’ve seen a number of people walk away from the faith…

Some Thoughts on my First (and Last) T4G Conference

_{2022 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

I found myself in the fifth row. My pastor, it turns out, is kind of obsessed with sitting close up to the front…

Guest Post: A Christian View on Psychedelics

_{2022 – Noble Truth / Meta Mystic, Rav Arora’s Substack}

There is an old story of a man who left his home in search of an island paradise he felt sure existed; the last undiscovered place on earth. He sailed oceans and traversed continents…

Joe Rogan and the Search for Transcendence

_{2022 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

Living in Montreal, I am used to encountering deeply secular people. No heaven above, no hell below, no God at all…

With Bent Stalk and Bruised Reed

_{2021 – Agape Review}

As night’s majestic silence swallows day
angelic moonlit faces peaceful lay
my conscience robbed thereof by daytime’s flight…

..

The Wingfeather Saga: A Review

_{2021 – The Gospel Coalition Canada}

There is a feeling I get when I finish a truly special book. It is the sense that I’ve been granted a rare glimpse of something beautiful and good…