By Bill Leonard Perhaps St. Paul initiated it, punctuating his apostolic CV with an apology for behaving as one who was “in pious zeal, a persecutor of the church” (Phil 3:6) — “breathing out threats,” Acts says, against Jesus’ followers….
Ordination a personal and churchly calling
By Bill Leonard The London Confession (1644), a creatively Calvinist Baptist statement of faith, contains this passage on ministerial ordination: “That also such to whom God hath given gifts, being tried in the Church, may and ought by the appointment…
The freedom of Will
By Bill Leonard Will Campbell — preacher, writer, lecturer, farmer, raconteur, soulful iconoclast and equal-opportunity prophet — died in Nashville on Monday, June 3. He was a month this side of 89 and had spent more than two years in…
Christian ‘nones’?
By Bill Leonard Not at the Jordan River, but in that flowing stream stood John the Baptist preacher when he baptized Him. John was a Baptist preacher when he baptized the Lamb, so Jesus was a Baptist and thus the…
As One unknown
By Bill Leonard “He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake side, He came to those … who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: ‘Follow thou me!’ and…
As One unknown
By Bill Leonard “He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake side, He came to those … who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: ‘Follow thou me!’ and…
As One unknown
By Bill Leonard “He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake side, He came to those … who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: ‘Follow thou me!’ and…
As One unknown
By Bill Leonard “He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake side, He came to those … who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: ‘Follow thou me!’ and…
Unnatural disasters
By Bill Leonard In recent days a series of unnatural disasters spread across the American landscape, extending from populous Boston to the small town of West, Texas, even winding through the power-laden corridors of the United States Senate. On Patriots’…
At home in the 17th century
By Bill Leonard Seventeenth century Baptists would have known exactly what was happening when two Rowan County state legislators recently proposed a resolution, affirmed by 11 other legislative colleagues, that declared that the United States Constitution does not “prohibit states…
The last denominationalist
Correction. This column was edited after its original posting to correct errors in the third and fifth paragraphs. By Bill Leonard Duke Kimbrough McCall was an institution, bearing in himself elements of American religious corporate and institutional life across much…
Holy Week: Breaking the silence
By Bill Leonard “The Kingdom of God is here. And by the way, don’t tell anybody.” That’s what Jesus said to those he gathered up around the Sea of Galilee, at the start of things. His message, John Dominic Crossan…