The Regent Vine

Welcome to the Vine, a publication of Regent College. Join us for conversations that inform, challenge, and inspire.

Sep 3, 2025
Bible Spirituality

The Paradoxes of God’s Physical Presence in the Old Testament

Matthew Lynch

The Old Testament wrestles with the paradox of seeing God—depicting Him as near yet veiled, visible yet ungraspable, always beyond human comprehension.

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Sep 15, 2025

Podcast: The Impact of the Colonial Period on Today’s Theology

Mabiala Kenzo

In this episode, Dr. Mabiala Kenzo explores how colonialism still shapes theology today. He highlights the need to recognize its lasting impact on both colonized and colonizer societies to develop a more inclusive and globally aware theological perspective.

Sep 15, 2025

Video: A Wilkinson Theology of Soup

Loren Wilkinson

Uncover the history and theology of Regent's most delicious tradition.

Sep 15, 2025

Video: Mabiala Kenzo on Postcolonial Theology | Walk & Talk

An interview on the significance of postcolonial theology for the renewal of Christian theology worldwide. Kenzo reflects on how perspectives from the margins can challenge and enrich dominant theological frameworks, and he shares his hopes.

Sep 15, 2025

Podcast: A New Language for the Sexual Crisis of Our Generation

Sarah C. Williams

Sarah Williams explores today’s sexual identity crisis, urging a deeper grasp of history and more nuanced language to foster healthier conversations about marriage, sex, and identity.

Sep 11, 2025

Podcast: Climate Theology and Storytelling

Everett Hamner

Everett Hamner shares how his Regent journey shaped his focus on ecotheology, climate literature, and global crises. Drawing on works like Richard Powers’ Playground, he weaves science, faith, and art to imagine truthful, hopeful futures.

Sep 11, 2025

From the Magnificat to the "Blue Marble": Reflections on 21st-Century World Christianity

Diane Stinton

Mary’s Magnificat and the "Blue Marble" photo both reveal God’s great reversals—uplifting the lowly and expanding global faith, mission, and unity.

Sep 11, 2025

Must Theology Be Practical? Musings for Theology’s Current Moment

Graham Hoppstock-Matson

Theology bridges thought and practice, guiding believers to know God deeply and live faithfully, uniting mind and action in the life of the Church.

Sep 11, 2025

Cave Spirituality: A Sermon on Psalm 142

Ross Hastings

Psalm 142 reveals “cave spirituality”—a space of lonely, honest lament. David cries out from grief, loss, and fear, yet finds refuge in God. Lament invites raw emotion, silence, and lucidity. Even in deep sorrow, God meets us, and community begins to form again.

Sep 11, 2025

Podcast: Gender in the New Testament

Amy Peeler

Amy Peeler explores Mary’s role and God’s inclusion of women in Christianity, reflecting on Jesus’ maleness, God’s fatherhood, and Paul’s views in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 11. Her thoughtful, encouraging approach sheds light on often-overlooked aspects of faith.

Sep 10, 2025

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Imagination for Being Human

James Smoker

Coleridge reimagined humanity not as machines, but as divine image-bearers with moral freedom, imagination, and mystery. He saw each person as unique, interconnected, and capable of friendship with God, a vision opposing dehumanizing views of his time and affirming sacred personhood.

Sep 10, 2025

Motherhood, Vision, and Sacrament

Naomi Pattison-Williams

A luminous reflection on motherhood as a spiritual practice, where care, presence, and tender attention slowly shape a sacramental vision of everyday

Sep 10, 2025

The Invisibility of Religion in Contemporary Art

Jonathan Anderson

Religion has shaped modern art, yet art history often ignores it. This article urges deeper study of theology’s hidden role in contemporary art.

Sep 10, 2025

Poetry: Genesis

Jolene Nolte

Rainbows are rare here because they require both rain and a low-angled, unobscured sun...

Sep 9, 2025

Will There Be AI Zombie Songs in Heaven?

Jonathan Lipps

Human creativity reflects divine design and personal growth; unlike AI-generated art, true art stems from soul, struggle, and transformation.

Sep 9, 2025

When the Soul Grows Weary: An Invitation to Humility

Claire Perini

Feeling overwhelmed and weary, the author found healing through rest, humility, spiritual practices, and encountering God in life’s messiness.

Sep 9, 2025

MAID and the Given Life

Jared Borders

This article explores Canada's MAID program through historical, theological, and ethical lenses, challenging the notions of autonomy and suffering. It calls the Church to respond with compassion, a theology of life as gift, and a commitment to care rather than eliminate suffering.

Sep 9, 2025

The Scars of the Resurrected Christ: What They Teach Us About Trauma, the Christian Life, and Vocation

David C. Wang

Explores how Christ’s scars speak to trauma, emotional formation, and ministry, calling for a theology that embraces woundedness and healing.

Sep 9, 2025

Artificial Intelligence and the Diminishment of Human Identity

Jens Zimmermann

True danger lies not in machines thinking, but in losing our personhood and sense of being truly human.

Sep 9, 2025

Rediscovering Childlike Wonder: The Profound Allegory of "The Little Prince"

Fong Xue Ting

An analysis of The Little Prince, exploring its themes of childlike wonder, love, ego, and spiritual transformation through humility and imagination.

Sep 9, 2025

I Am Because You Are: Reclaiming an Identity in Christ Upended by the South African Story of ‘Apartness'

Linda Chonco

Struggling to embrace my identity in Christ after Apartheid's lies, I seek healing by reclaiming God's truer story over the one that wounded me.

Sep 9, 2025

Faith That Makes Us Indigenous

Marcelo Vargas A.

This article explores Christian faith as a new Indigeneity, rooted not in land or ancestry, but in the Kingdom of God, reshaping identity, home, and belonging.

Sep 9, 2025

Podcast: Wisdom in a Secular Age

Gordon Smith

Gordon T. Smith reflects on how the Church can thrive in a secular age. Drawing on Scripture and his book Wisdom From Babylon, he explores whether post-Christian culture is a threat—or an opportunity—for faithful and wise Christian leadership.

Sep 9, 2025

In the End is the Beginning: Reflections on Why We Love Stories About the End of the World

Mary McCampbell

Contemporary fascination with apocalyptic and dystopian stories reflects deep cultural anxieties and a longing for meaning. These narratives expose the failures of secular progress, critique societal complacency, and ask enduring human questions about purpose, identity, and hope amid collapse.

Sep 8, 2025

The Saint John’s Bible Heritage Edition at Regent College: Ancient Art for the Modern Era

The Saint John's Bible Heritage Program

Regent College houses one of only 299 Saint John’s Bible Heritage Editions—a modern, hand-scribed Bible reviving an ancient Benedictine tradition. Created over 13 years, it inspires spiritual reflection through art, scripture, and shared experiences across campus and beyond.

Sep 8, 2025

Why the Church Needs Sociology

Jessamin Birdsall

Sociology helps the church see and understand social realities that shape human behavior, offering insight into issues like race and class. While theology gives vision, sociology offers tools for diagnosis. Together, they help churches more effectively pursue justice, inclusion, and transformation.

Sep 8, 2025

Limiting Love and Excluding Empathy?

Krish Kandiah

This article critiques how Christian faith is being misused to justify exclusion and hate in right-wing politics. It calls the Church to reclaim its prophetic role through true discipleship, rooted in love, justice, and the radical, inclusive message of Jesus.

Sep 8, 2025

A Mutual Exchange: Why Theology Needs the Church

Rhonda M. McEwen

The article calls for theology to be rooted in the lived experience of the local church, highlighting a contextual, practical, and dialogical approach. It urges theological institutions to engage with real-life issues through partnership with congregations, fostering “theology for life.”

Sep 8, 2025

Disruptive Questions Posed in Love

Conor Wilkerson

At Regent’s atrium, “disruptive questions posed in love” spark growth—humble, heartfelt inquiry that deepens faith, learning, and human connection.

Sep 8, 2025

Is Lectio Divina Just Making Stuff Up?

Bruce Hindmarsh

Lectio divina, often misunderstood as exotic or mystical, is reclaimed here as the historic and prayerful reading of Scripture. Rooted in Christian tradition, it integrates reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation, drawing believers into deeper communion with God through Scripture.

Sep 5, 2025

Stanley’s “Holy Box”

Iwan Russell-Jones

Stanley Spencer’s “holy box”—the Sandham Memorial Chapel—honours WWI soldiers with art that blends the sacred and the everyday. His vivid Resurrection paintings portray embodied, joyful renewal—revealing hope, holiness, and divine presence in ordinary life and human suffering.

Sep 5, 2025

Mother God: Theology Born in Pain

Yare Vargas

A mother reflects on how becoming a parent reshaped her understanding of God—not as a distant male figure, but as a suffering, enduring Mother. Through pain, exhaustion, and silence, she discovers a divine presence rooted in love, sacrifice, and the quiet strength of femininity.

Sep 5, 2025

The Practice of Lament: Teaching Students to Grieve Biblically

Alejandra Ortiz

A reflection on teaching lament through Scripture—showing how biblical lament invites honest, prophetic response to pain, injustice, and hope in God.

Sep 5, 2025

God Is with Us.

Lissa M. Wray Beal

Jesus’ temple visit echoes Exodus: God’s glory once filled the tabernacle; now Christ is that glory, dwelling with us to make us his holy temple.

Sep 5, 2025

Six Surprising Ideas the KJV Translators Had About Other Bible Translations

George Guthrie

How KJV translators valued all Bible translations as tools for God's mission—welcoming updates, variety, and ongoing improvement for the Church.

Sep 5, 2025

Reading with Strangers: A Hermeneutics of Hospitality

Brittany N. Melton

A hermeneutics of hospitality invites diverse voices to the table—reading the Bible with openness, trust, and a life-giving, communal lens.

Sep 5, 2025

"Music for the Brain and Booty"

Jonathan Saunders

Snarky Puppy’s music blends groove, intellect, and community, resisting reductionist views of humanity. Rooted in gospel, it unites body and spirit, revealing transcendence through deep human experience and offering a vision of the image of God made whole.

Sep 5, 2025

Poetry: You’ve Made Your Bed

C. J. Berberich

A poetic lens on Isaiah 28 reveals pride, fear, and the nearness of God's true rest.

Sep 5, 2025

The New Jerusalem

Daniela Amestegui

A multicultural tapestry reimagines the New Jerusalem as a familiar, earthly city where God's Spirit weaves together diverse cultures in sacred unity.

Sep 3, 2025

CRUX Obituary: 1979–2025

Julie Lane Gay

CRUX, Regent College’s quarterly journal of Christian thought, concluded after 46 years and 184 issues. From its 1979 founding under James Houston to poetry by Luci Shaw and global scholarship, CRUX stayed true to its mission, shaping Christian discourse with depth, creativity, and faithfulness.

Sep 3, 2025

The Paradoxes of God’s Physical Presence in the Old Testament

Matthew Lynch

The Old Testament wrestles with the paradox of seeing God—depicting Him as near yet veiled, visible yet ungraspable, always beyond human comprehension.

Sep 3, 2025

Video: Art, Conflict and Healing: Case Studies from Northern Ireland, China and Ukraine

Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin

This lecture explores contemporary artists—Bogside Artists, Ai Weiwei, and Ukrainian creators—whose powerful works respond to conflict and oppression.

Aug 27, 2025

Learning to Enjoy Joy: God’s Gift for Moments like This

Sebastian Dortch

A journalist caring for parents with dementia reflects on the deep challenges, mortality fears, and faith struggles this brings. Through Scripture, personal trials, and caregiving, he learns joy is not earned but gifted by Jesus. Often discovered in hardship and surrender.

Podcast: Indigenous Spirituality: Pantheistic or Monotheistic?

Cheryl Bear

Singer-songwriter Cheryl Bear explores the intersection of Christian faith and First Nation culture. Is Indigenous spirituality monotheistic? How does it relate to the gospel, and how does Jesus redeem cultural narratives? Don’t miss this thought-provoking conversation.

Podcast: Urban Geography, Race and Gentrification

David Leong

In this episode David Leong discusses urban geography, race, and gentrification. He examines how urban development affects communities of color and explores the role of the Church in addressing these challenges.