By Alan Bean According to a front page, above-the-fold, article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has launched a 12-year project that will see 69 heroes of the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention celebrated in…
Don’t blame Al Mohler, it was God’s idea
By Alan Bean It is hard to believe that two full decades have passed since R. Albert Mohler ascended to the presidency of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. To celebrate this momentous occasion, the seminary has produced…
What kind of Baptists are we?
In the 1950s and 60s, the unofficial public theology of America was dominated by theologians associated with what we now call “the Protestant Mainline”. A public theology makes biblical teaching relevant to the pressing political, economic and social issues of…
Stuck in the messy middle
By Alan Bean In the 1950s and 1960s, the unofficial public theology of America was dominated by theologians associated with what we now call “the Protestant Mainline.” A public theology makes biblical teaching relevant to the pressing political, economic and…
Is America a culture or an idea?
Is America an idea about “liberty and justice for all” that can be embraced by an endless assortment of people from a wild array of cultures; or is America a uniquely White Western cultural phenomenon that only works when White…
Public policy and the heart of God
For the past 15 years, I have directed a faith-based non-profit called Friends of Justice. It all started in Tulia, Texas when a massive drug bust in the summer of 1999 inspired an article in the local paper about human…
Zimmerman verdict reveals flawed jury selection process
A jury comprised of five white women and one Latina has acquitted George Zimmerman on all charges. This outcome was largely determined by the way we select juries in America. Imagine that two women who looked like Trayvon Martin were…
Jury selection helped Zimmerman
By Alan Bean A jury comprised of five white women and one Latina has acquitted George Zimmerman on all charges. This outcome was largely determined by the way we select juries in America. Imagine that two women who looked like…
Getting straight about that serpent-dove thing
Most readers of this blog would identify as moderate Baptists who view their more ideological brothers and sisters as well-intentioned, but misguided, extremists. Moderates are sensible mediators between extremes who eschew both conservative and liberal forms of group-think, political correctness,…