Trevin Wax

2 weeks ago | thegospelcoalition.org | Trevin Wax

Not long ago, a friend asked me about my Bible-reading and prayer habits. He was surprised to learn that I don’t read through the entire Bible every year—and that I’ve only completed that journey a few times in my life. Years ago, I did a “Bible in 90 Days” plan, and for a couple of winters, I set aside the first two months of the year to read the entire Bible before picking up any other book. Those cold, quiet mornings with a cup of tea and God’s Word were wonderful. But I haven’t done it since.

2 weeks ago | thegospelcoalition.org | Trevin Wax

Double literacy loss is among the significant challenges facing the church today. It’s a phrase that describes the shrinking habits of reading among young people, compounded by a lack of sustained attention given to Scripture—even among those growing up in church. I recently devoted an episode of Reconstructing Faith to this phenomenon (“Reading the Bible When Nobody Reads”), where I talked with author and professor Brad East.

3 weeks ago | thegospelcoalition.org | Trevin Wax

I’m rereading Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov this year, in a marvelous new translation from Michael R. Katz. A lengthy portion of the book centers on the memories and teachings of Father Zosima, a saintly elder in a Russian Orthodox monastery who serves as a spiritual hero to the novel’s protagonist, the novice Alyosha Karamazov. Shortly after the elder Zosima—revered for his holiness and wisdom—dies, his body begins to decay rapidly.

3 weeks ago | thegospelcoalition.org | Trevin Wax

A hundred years ago, progressive women marched through New York’s streets demanding suffrage and equal rights. Some smoked cigarettes in public—a provocative move intended to push against the stigma of smoking as merely a “man’s treat.” By the 1950s, smoking had become synonymous with glamour in Hollywood and normalized throughout society, with Big Tobacco company Philip Morris sponsoring America’s favorite TV show, I Love Lucy.

4 weeks ago | thegospelcoalition.org | Trevin Wax

Evangelicalism has fractured. The past decade has led to a parting of the ways among many who once labored side by side to steward and promote the gospel. 1. Neo-fundamentalists, often most concerned about whatever is perceived as drift from the theological or political right2. Mainstream evangelicals, generally conservative, denominationally rooted, more attuned to external opposition to the church than internal rot3.