Christian Courier Columns

A younger Derek reading Calvinist Contact, the earlier name of Christian Courier (photo taken sometime in the last century)

For over a decade I have been a regular monthly columnist for Christian Courier, which began with a column titled Technically Speaking.

Some of my most recent articles are avalaible on the CC website. The following is a longer list of CC columns that have been published over the years.

• Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, January 12, 2009
• Some Thoughts About Robots, February 9, 2009
• Social Networking and the Private Sphere, March 9, 2009
• The Net and Your Brain, April 13, 2009
• Engineers Don't Just Drive Trains, May 11, 2009
• A Service Call to Mkar, July 27, 2009
• Personal Information and Privacy, September, 14, 2009
• Technology and Holidays, October 12, 2009
• A New Year of Technology, January 11, 2010
• Redeeming Video Games, February 8, 2010
• High-tech dreams and God's Providence, May 10, 2010
• Refreshing our Reformed Roots, June 14, 2010
• Technology and Globalization, July 12, 2010
• Impressions from Kenya, Sept. 13, 2010
• Technology and Sabbath, Oct. 11, 2010
• Pitfalls of Social Networking, Nov. 8, 2010
• The Medium is the Message, Dec. 13, 2010
• Kuyper and Computers in Nicaragua, Jan. 10, 2011
• Remembering Theo Plantinga, Feb. 14, 2011
• No Value-Free Zones, Mar. 14, 2011
• Train up a Child, Apr. 11, 2011
• Christians as Investigative Scientists, May 9, 2011
• Computers that Speak your Language, June 13, 2011
• Long Before the Blue Box: Faith and Sustainable Technology, July 11, 2011
• Wanted: Christian Engineering Education in Canada, Aug. 8, 2011
• Heading off to university, September 12, 2011
• Solar power: a step in the right direction, October 11, 2011
• Apple and aesthetics, November 14, 2011
• Appropriate Technology, December 11, 2011
• Much ado about SOPA, February 13, 2012
• Why Christian Scholarship is Difficult, March 12, 2013
• Technique and the Church, April 9, 2012
• Remembering the Titanic, May 14, 2012
• How will technology change higher education?, July 9, 2012
• Of Men and Martians, September 10, 2012
• Seeing and Understanding, October 8, 2012
• Gospel Blimps and Bytes, November 12, 2012
• The Supremacy of Christ, December 10, 2012
• Tweeting Pellets of Wisdom, January 14, 2013
• Smart forks, empty wallets, February 11, 2013
• A Church body without bodies?, March 11, 2013 (this column was a finalist in the 2014 Words Awards in the single column category)
• A Future Without Work?, April 8, 2013
• Better Off?, May 13, 2013
• Towers of Babel Today, June 10, 2013
• Ethics and lethal autonomous robots, July 8, 2013
• Nothing is Neutral: The electric vehicle option, August 12, 2013
• Technology and Pride, September 9, 2013
• Just for the fun of it: The electronics hobbyist, October 14, 2013
• Out of Print, November  11, 2013
• An Open Letter to Church Sound Operators, December 9, 2013
• Redeeming the Gift of Power, February 10, 2014
• Jubilee 2014: Everything Matters, March 10, 2014
• Media and Worship, April 14, 2014
• Through a Glass Darkly, May 12, 2014
• Ham Radio - from a hobby to a vocation , June 9, 2014
• Passing the Turing Test, July 14, 2014
• 25 years of technology and the arts, August 11, 2014
• The Academy Regained, September 8, 2014
• Laptops and Learning, October 13, 2014
• Technically Speaking at Edifide , November 10, 2014
• The Meaning of Technology, January 12, 2015
  also posted on InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars blog.
• Serving Raspberry Pi in Nicaragua , February 9, 2015.
• Facing Change, March 9, 2015.
• Internet politics: The net is not neutral, April 13, 2015.
• The New Gnostics, May 11, 2015.
• Destination Dordt, June 8, 2015.
• Christians in the Mathematical Sciences , July 13, 2015.
• What makes an education 'Christian'? , August 10, 2015.
  also posted on CACE website at https://cace.org/what-makes-an-education-christian/
  see also: https://www.mpk-indonesia.org/uncategorized/2682/
• Impressions from Sioux Center , November 9, 2015.
• Farewell to Dordt College , June 13, 2016.
• Serving Raspberry Pi in Zambia , July 11, 2016.
• Pokevangelism in a Secular Age, September 12, 2016.
• How Can Christian Universities Flourish? , October 10, 2016.
• Faith and tech combine in Waterloo , November 14, 2016.
• Transhumanism and the Incarnation , December 12, 2016.
  also posted on "In All Things" at: https://inallthings.org/transhumanism-and-the-incarnation/
  This article received the Harvey/Mackey Award at the 2017 Word Guild Awards (June 23, 2017)
• On being 'hospitably Reformed', January 9, 2017.
• Father of the Bride-to-be , February 13, 2017.
• Sex and Social Robots, April 10, 2017.
  also posted on "In All Things" at: https://inallthings.org/sex-and-social-robots/
• When Your Toaster is a Target, May 8, 2017.
  also posted on "In All Things" at: https://inallthings.org/when-your-toaster-becomes-a-target/
• Building a Bridge from Nicaragua to the DR, June 12, 2017.
• Weapons of Math Destruction, July 10, 2017.
  also posted on "In All Things" at https://inallthings.org/weapons-of-math-destruction/ , Oct. 20, 2017. shortlisted for a 2018 Word Guild award, single column category.
• Two weddings and a move , October 9, 2017.
• Impressions from Grand Rapids, November 13, 2017, p. 15.
• Repairable tech , December 11, 2017, p. 17.
• Creeds, confessions and Christian colleges, February 12, 2018, p. 15.
• Kuyper on the 'Greater Things', May 14, 2018, p. 15.
• Letter to a Young Engineer, January 14, 2019, p. 14.
• Letter to a Young Professor , February 11, 2019, p. 15.
  Reprinted in INCHE Contact Newsletter, September 2019, p. 13.
• Embodiment Snatchers , April 8, 2019, p. 13.
  translated into Portuguese here
• Psalm 8 includes Computers , May 13, 2019, p. 14.
• Anti-Revolutionary Technology , June 10, 2019, p. 13.
• A Dazzling Theatre, September  9, 2019. p. 15.
• Letter to a Young IT Worker , October 14, 2019, p. 18.
• Caring Machines, November 11, 2019. p. 18.
• The Heart of Christmas, December 9, 2019, p. 17.
• Raspberry Pi in Zambia, March 23, 2020, p. 17.
• Communion In The Time of COVID-19, Apr 10, 2020 (online only).
• The Magic of Technology, April 13, 2020, p. 16.
• Tech in the Time of COVID-19, May 2020. p. 13.
• The Age of Distraction, July 13, 2020, p. 19.
• "Classes amid COVID", October 12, 2020, p. 16.
• "Discerning Direction", November 2, 2020 (online only).
• The Engineer in Genesis, January 11, 2021, p. 19.
• “Disruptive Politics”, March 8, 2021, p. 19.
• “In Control?”, April 12, 2021, p. 18.
• “The Christian College Core”, May 10, 2021, p. 21.
• “Alexa, Tell Me a Joke”, June 14, 2021, p. 19.
• “Technology and the Church”, July 12, 2021, p. 18.
• “COVID Border Crossing”, August 9, 2021, p. 17.
• “Who was Herman Bavinck?”, October 11, 2021, p. 20.
• “Hans’ Story”, November 8, 2021, p. 20.
• “The truth in a preposterous story”, February 14, 2022, p. 10.
• “Exploring the Metaverse”, March 14, 2022, p. 19.
• “Social media during Synod? Pray rather than post”, June 13, 2022.
• Online only. Re-posted in the CRCNA news, June 8, 2022.
• “Sacred life in a digital age”, online only, August 1, 2022.
• “Auditing our Tech”, September 12, 2022, p. 17.
• “Redeemer at 40”, October 28, 2022, (online only)
• “Chatting with ChatGPT”, March 6, 2023, p. 18.
• “You’re Only Human”, May 1, 2023, p. 19.
• “20 Years of Professing”, July 3, 2023, p. 20.
• “Demystifying Sabbaticals”, August 7, 2023, p. 18.
• “Gold, Tech & Wisdom”, September 4, 2023, p. 19.
• “AI and Truth”, December 4, 2023, p. 20.
• “Lament for a Wife”, February 5, 2024, p. 15.
• “AI Jesus?”, September 2, 2024, p. 17.
• “Becoming Acquainted with Grief”, October 7, 2024, p. 17.