Max McLean, the lead actor and director of the theatrical adaptation of The Screwtape Letters, has performed the role of Screwtape hundreds of times since the play debuted in 2010. This means that beyond reading C.S. Lewis, McLean has absorbed his thought.

We recently had the chance to ask him about any enduring lessons he’s learned from so much attention to Lewis’s work. He explains in this three-minute video:

Learn more about our upcoming conference, “The Romantic Rationalist: God, Life, & Imagination in the Work of C.S. Lewis,” and download our ebook from John Piper on C.S. Lewis, Alive to Wonder: Celebrating the Influence of C.S. Lewis.

Twenty percent of all the books sold last year were electronic, says the latest report from Bookstats. This simply means that ebooks are still on the rise. More and more users like to carry their libraries in their hands. And this matters for the mission of Desiring God.

Though it won’t replace good old-fashioned books, the upward trend of ebooks has created a new platform for us to spread our message — that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

Over the past year we’ve created 14 new titles exclusively released as ebooks, all free, available in three different file formats to fit whichever mobile device you use. They have included specially curated content from Jo…

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Father’s Day is this weekend, and John Piper and the team at Desiring God would like to help you get ready and make the most of it.

This new ebook from John Piper, A Tribute to My Father, brings together in one place his most significant writings that honor the indelible influence of his father, Bill Piper (1919–2007). Included here are the eleven “precious truths” John shared for Father’s Day 2005, as well as his journal entry from the night his father died, the funeral message from just days later, and the extended biographical address tracking his life and ministry as an evangelist and father.

For Father’s Day 2013

John writes in the new introduction written specially for the ebook,

M…

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Four years ago, the small-budget, independent production 500 Days of Summer premiered at the Sundance Film Festival with decent accolades. Since then the movie has surprisingly gone on to earn over $60 million. Why? Because it’s a realistic story of an all-too-common dating relationship — one that ends up lopsided and empty because of a plastic vision of romance.

Its popularity seems to tell us something about Western culture and relationships: the system is broken. Expectations are inflated. People are confused.

But a similar report fits for many Christians. How should we think about dating? What’s the best way to journey toward marriage?

In this new episode of Behind the Blog, we talk d…

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Only one major world religion has a built-in apologetic against Christianity: Islam.

“While I profoundly disagree with Islam,” says Zane Pratt, dean of missions at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “I love Muslims.”

For 20 years, Pratt lived and ministered the Christian gospel among Muslims in Central Asia. He knows the religion well and is one of the foremost evangelical teachers on Islam. And perhaps the first thing he’d say to Christians about Muslims is, “Don’t be afraid.”

“We Fundamentally Disagree on Essentially Everything”

In our post-9/11 milieu, Pratt finds himself not only combating fear but many popular misconceptions about Islam — one being that Arab and Muslim are the s…

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You’d probably recognize his voice. Max McLean has narrated the Bible five times, as well as John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and several other pieces of Christian literature. But his most celebrated work is a theatrical adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s famous novel, The Screwtape Letters. This critically acclaimed production is currently on national tour, playing in over fifty major cities and performing arts venues, including recently in Minneapolis.

While Max McLean was in town, we had the chance to ask him a few questions about his study of Lewis from an arts perspective, and especially his mastery of Lewis’s theological fantasies. In this two-minute video, McLean explains how the core of Lew…

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John Piper writes in the foreword to Jon Bloom’s new book Not by Sight: A Fresh Look at Old Stories of Walking by Faith,

These meditations are not your ordinary exposition. These are stories. Really good stories. They are rooted in what the Bible says. The creative additions never go beyond what really could have happened. The truths that Jon sees for our lives are based not on what might have been but on what was. The might-have-beens give added flesh to the bones of truth. They are touchable.

In addition to Piper’s written commendation in the foreword, here’s a short video commendation.

For this week only, Westminster Bookstore is offering Not by Sight for only $6.50 — and just …

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“Christian Hedonism is a liberating and devastating doctrine,” John Piper writes.

It teaches that the value of God shines more brightly in the soul that finds deepest satisfaction in him. Therefore it is liberating because it endorses our inborn desire for joy. And it is devastating because it reveals that no one desires God with the passion he demands. Paradoxically, many people experience both of these truths. That certainly is my own experience.

So begins his book When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. I’ve hardly read anything that resonates with my soul the way this book does. The command to enjoy God — as right and central as it is biblically — is beyond our ability to perfor…

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Update: Ask Pastor John is now available for Kindle Fire (and other Android devices) in the Amazon Appstore.

What’s the Christian way to think about marijuana, cussing, interracial marriage, the historical Adam, and homosexuality?

Listen to John Piper answer these and other tough pastoral and theological questions using the new Ask Pastor John app for Android. Similar to the iPhone app we released in March, this new app streams the latest episodes of the Ask Pastor John podcast straight to your Android mobile device. It even has the option for you to submit your own questions for Pastor John to answer.

A new episode of Ask Pastor John is released each weekday at 10AM Central and is typica…

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Initially, it may be tough to tell the difference. A gifted Bible-expositor and an entertainment-oriented preacher, with a penchant for garnishing his ideas with some Bible, may not demonstrate much disparity at first.

But give it some time. And check the congregation over the long haul. It will make a world of difference.

Tethered to the Bible

John Piper coins a term in his short article “In Honor of Tethered Preaching: John Calvin and the Entertaining Pastor.” “Tethered preaching,” he says, is cut from a different cloth altogether. It is Bible-oriented, rather than entertainment-oriented, even as it often proves captivating to the born-again palette.

The Bible tethers us to reality. We…

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