Daniel Camacho is a Junior Fellow of The Colossian Forum and is responsible for research, blogging, editorial work and writing. He hails from Long Island, New York and grew up in a Spanish-speaking United Methodist church. Daniel is a senior at Calvin College majoring in Philosophy and minoring in Church, Society and Ministry from the Congregational and Ministry Studies department. Some of his research interests include hermeneutics, ecclesiology, theological anthropology and political theology. Besides reading, he can be found playing volleyball and holding out hope for his New York sports teams. This past summer, Daniel completed a ministry internship at Open Door Fellowship of East Harlem. He is currently discerning a call to serve in ministry and higher education, and plans to attend seminary after college.
How to Revive a Church in Crisis
Every time the church faces a “crisis” (whether real or perceived), Christians have to think about how they will respond. What strategies should we use to keep and restore the integrity of the Christian faith? David Brooks, NY Times columnist, has written an article that looks back at the major crisis afflicting the North African [...]
How “real” are virtual relationships?
Catfish. Manti Te’o. If there’s one thing we can learn from this film turned MTV show and Notre Dame linebacker it’s that social technology has complicated the way we think about relationships. How should we relate to virtual relationships? How “real” are virtual relationships? Manti Te’o’s girlfriend hoax grabbed the national spotlight and provoked such [...]
Social Media and Spiritual Formation
Is Facebook an indispensable tool in today’s world that we would be foolish to avoid using? Is it a lesser but necessary evil? Is it a cesspool of human depravity, inherently corrosive to our character and beyond all redemption? Similar questions can be asked of Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and a host of other social media [...]
On Silence and Losing Control (A Lenten Reflection)
Like most students, I didn’t know exactly what I was signing up for when I decided to take a class on St. Thomas Aquinas last spring. We were going to read part of the Summa, specifically focusing on his account of the virtues and vices—that much I knew. Understanding this medieval thinker was probably going [...]
Culture Wars: An Old Hope (Epistle to Diognetus)
Sometimes it is helpful to look back at the “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1) in order to expand our imagination of what faithful living looks like. What follows is an excerpt from a 2nd century letter describing how Christians live in the world: For Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind either [...]
Politics in the Church?
Politics can get nasty. Just recall the Facebook comments, “debates,” and “purges” that accompanied our nation’s last presidential election. Discussing politics with others—whether it’s on the topic of gay marriage, gun control, or taxes—does not seem to be worth the price for all of the incendiary reactions that ensue. The results appear to be even [...]
Book Review – Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think
Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think by Elaine Howard Ecklund. Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. 228 December 6th, 2012 By Daniel Camacho [...]
Book Review – Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think
Once upon a time, Galileo was tortured at the hands of the Inquisition in a moment that would come to exemplify the age-long conflict between science and religion—at least, this is how the story often goes. But Elaine Ecklund, a sociologist from Rice University, argues that this recounting of the story is more of a…
