Featured Issues

The US Economy And Its Future Challenges In An Integrated World Economy

The past three decades have produced an economy in America that is indeed the envy of the world. The Economist summarizes the financial and economic dynamic of the US economy: “In 1990 it accounted for about two-fifths of the GDP of the G7. Today it makes up half. Output per person is now about 30% higher than in Western Europe and Canada, and 60% higher than in Japan—gaps that have roughly doubled since 1990. Mississippi may be America’s poorest state, but its hard-working residents earn, on average, more than Brits, Canadians or Germans. Lately, China too has gone backwards. Having closed in rapidly on America in the years before the pandemic, its nominal GDP has slipped from about three-quarters of America’s in 2021 to two-thirds today.”

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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

Israel And The Policy Of Deterrence: The Key To Its Survival

Since 7 October 2023, Israel has redrawn the balance of power in the Middle East and indeed in the world. Here is a summary of its triumphant war against savage theocratic terrorists

“We Gather Together”: A Thanksgiving Hymn In Historical Perspective

This week is Thanksgiving and it is appropriate in this edition of Issues in Perspective, to focus on Thanksgiving. To that end, I want to share a perspective on the Thanksgiving hymn, “We Gather Together.” Melanie Kirkpatrick of the Wall Street Journal offers an instructive history about this traditional hymn.

Bible Study Podcast

2 Peter 2:1-10

Peter assures his readers that God will deal with the false teachers in judgment and rescue those who belong to Him from His wrath.

Culture & Wordview

Identity Politics, The Economy, Evangelicals And The 2024 Political Culture

It is now conventional wisdom to argue that America is more polarized as a society in 2024 than it has been in its history, save the decade of the 1850s right before the Civil War. Why? There is no simple answer to this important question, but it is quite important as Christians that we seek to understand the nature of this polarization. The columnist and recent convert to Christianity, David Brooks, offers a most helpful analysis and overview of our polarized society.

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.”