Featured Issues
What Is Christmas All About?
An important Eckman family tradition at Christmas time was always watching the much-loved, A Charlie Brown Christmas. My wife and I and our two children adored the characters: Lucy, the psychiatrist; Snoopy, the home-decorator; and Linus, the theologian. I have since learned that A Charlie Brown Christmas, which first aired on CBS in December 1965, was only the second animated Christmas special on American television; Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer being the first in 1964.
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About IIP
James P. Eckman (Jim) is President Emeritus and Professor in Bible and History at Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska. He has been at Grace since 1983. He holds the following degrees:
- B.S., Millersville University of Pennsylvania (1969)
- M.A., Lehigh University (1973)
- Th.M. (with honor), Dallas Theological Seminary (1983)
- Ph.D., University of Nebraska–Lincoln (1989)
He has also completed additional postgraduate work at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He received the Charles A. Nash Award in Historical Theology while at Dallas Seminary. [Read More]
Featured Issues
American Culture At The End Of 2025: Positives And Negatives
In previous editions of Issues in Perspective, I have cited evidence of spiritual revival within American Culture. This is especially true among Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012). Daniel Williams, associate professor of history at Ashland University, observers that “About a third of Gen Z-ers are nonreligious. Thirty-eight percent never go to church — a mark of the rise of the Nones, or Americans with no religious affiliation . . . [But] According to survey data from the Barna Group, a Christian research organization, Gen Z-ers who go to church are more frequent attendees than churchgoers from older generations. Twenty-four percent of Gen Z-ers go to church every week (a slightly higher rate than for millennials and Gen X-ers).”
Who Is Nick Fuentes?
Editorially, the Wall Street Journal recently declared that: “An old political poison is growing on the new right, led by podcasters and internet opportunists who are preoccupied with the Jews. It is spreading wider and faster than we thought, and it has even found an apologist in Kevin Roberts, president of the venerable Heritage Foundation.” The cause of this recent furor is Nick Fuentes.
Bible Study Podcast
Matthew 2:13-3:10 Joseph protects the Child and His mother, and John the Baptist is introduced.
Culture & Wordview
American Culture At The End Of 2025: Positives And Negatives In previous editions of Issues in Perspective, I have cited evidence of spiritual revival within American Culture. This is especially true among Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012). Daniel Williams, associate professor of history at Ashland University, observers that “About a third of Gen Z-ers are nonreligious. Thirty-eight percent never go to church — a mark of the rise of the Nones, or Americans with no religious affiliation . . . [But] According to survey data from the Barna Group, a Christian research organization, Gen Z-ers who go to church are more frequent attendees than churchgoers from older generations. Twenty-four percent of Gen Z-ers go to church every week (a slightly higher rate than for millennials and Gen X-ers).”
Ethics
Ethical Considerations In Egg Freezing New York Times reporter Emma Goldberg recently posted a fascinating article on the growing practice of egg freezing among women in the US. She put her report in the context of women who seek to improve themselves and who seek to slow the reproductive clock: “There is always a market for products, from skin care to weight loss, promising to ease the angst of womanhood. Efforts to slow down the reproductive clock are no different. The business of egg extraction is thriving, among the privileged group of people who can access it.”
