This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.
On its journey from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul, this special place helps us understand the broader arc of Christian history, which goes on until Christ's return.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.

All Articles

What is undoubtedly true, however, is that St. Peter wasn’t left outside. He wasn’t left weeping. He was restored, as am I, as are you.
A set of Holy Week poems written and published first by Tanner Olson on his website, writtentospeak.com.
Today I would like to share The Legend of the Dogwood, inspired by the words of Stoney Cooper.
Past, present, and future are tied together in Christ.
My fear of this coming darkness only lasts a moment.
What we discover in O’Connor’s stories and Martin Luther’s theology is that God’s grace is elusive because the human heart is resistant to it.
We don't make Church "happen." Only Christ can do so. It's his happening.
Some explanations are better than others, but they remain our explanations—except if we had some perspective from outside, above, and behind nature.
When I finished this book, I loved the Bible, and the Bible’s author, even more. And I can’t imagine a better endorsement than that.
Reading includes, on some level, striving. Hearing, on the other hand, remains passive.
Zephaniah has given us something more visceral to help us understand the love of God: the sound of salvation.
God has the power to take that which is small, that which is overlooked, that which is despised, and use it to create something wonderful.