COMMENTARY

Clapham Institute Blog

Welcome to the Clapham Institute Blog. You may have followed us previously at doggieheadtilt.com or come across us through a corporate event, church gathering, or online outreach. However you arrived here, we're glad to have you. If you have any questions about the content we're presenting, please feel free to reach out to us at any time.

Millennial-like

Zipcar’s target audience is millennials. Yet the median age of its members globally is 36—decidedly non-millennial. That’s why Zipcar has altered its ideas about generations in general. That’s good news. This shift aligns with the Bible’s take on generations.

A Risky Faith

New research indicates that when God is included in a project or sales pitch, people take risks they might otherwise not. That’s encouraging yet odd, given that Alan Hirsch says the American faith community practices a “risk-averse Christianity.”

Eight-Year-Olds

Major League Baseball is speeding up the game to hold fan interest. Speeding up is old news, however. The church is supposed to speed the return of the Lord. But the approach it uses lately seems to yield believers with the attention span of an eight-year-old.

Backdrops

Next year’s NCAA Final Four promises plenty of air balls and scoring droughts. The problem is poor backdrops. Poor backdrops create poor depth perceptions—a problem that today extends well beyond basketball.

Three Hours?

The Viagra commercial includes a warning. If you experience a certain condition lasting over four hours, call a doctor. The Passion Week suggests it might be closer to three.

A Better Brand of Apologist

Buying gifts for men is no fun. Underwear and socks—ugh. John Beekman is making gifts fun again. He’s the founder and CEO of Man Crates, an irreverent men’s e-commerce brand. It’s the sort of company that makes for a better brand of Christian apologist.

Right-Brain Culture Change

How do cultures change? Bottom up? Top down? Neither. In fact, St. Patrick’s Day reminds us how this entire debate is rather left-brained. Not good.

Topping Off The Tank

Ben and Laura Harrison’s first child—Jonas—was born blind. This raises the vexing question of why God allows suffering. The simple answer is, he doesn’t. God requires suffering. Ben and Laura have been elected to top off the tank of Christ’s afflictions.

What ISIS Gets Right

“We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.” So says President Obama. Graeme Wood disagrees. In the February issue of The Atlantic, he argues that Islamic State is not a death cult that distorts Islam. Rather, it is “very Islamic.” In fact, ISIS gets something right that few Westerners recognize.

Old Dogs, Old Tricks

In the 1990s scientists discovered that the adult mammalian brain is capable of sprouting thousands of new neurons. They allow us to keep learning new things. But most of them don’t stick around long enough to do this. Why is that?