By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee My friend Glen Stassen died today (Saturday, April 26) in Pasadena. He was 78. But because he was born on Leap Day—February 29, 1936—Glen liked to joke that he was only 19. Until an…
That pesky word ‘Evangelical’
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Each week someone in the news uses the words “evangelical” or “evangelicalism” as a description, epithet or lament. Often the most visible uses of the term occur when someone who is “in” wants out,…
Holy Week reflection: Toward a humble, repentant church
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Holy Week converges for me with the conclusion of a semester in which I have been teaching seminar courses about the Holocaust and about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This week the brilliant Bonhoeffer scholar Jennifer McBride…
Do for-profit corporations have religious liberties?
By David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee The now-famous Hobby Lobby (HL) case finally has been argued before the Supreme Court, with a decision expected in June. I believe their claim should be denied. Here is my analysis. It…
Stripped of power: Saying goodbye to Christian America, part III
David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee Last week I explored the potential downside of the demise of Christian influence in America. I suggested that U.S. culture continues to live on borrowed ethical capital from the Christian theological tradition, but…
The ‘ex-SBC’ trilogy: A response to my respondents
David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee We have a beloved expression in our family: “stirrin’ up the pot.” This phrase emerged from the mouth of our mischievous son when he was about 11. It referred to his occasional forays…
Don’t celebrate just yet: Saying goodbye to Christian America, part II
By David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee In my last article, I suggested that realism demands that we “say goodbye to Christian America,” because it is passing. I intended to join neither those who wholly celebrate this fact nor…
Saying goodbye to Christian America
By David P. Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee One day in a doctoral seminar at Union Seminary, my ethics mentor Larry Rasmussen said words I will never forget: “There are advantages and disadvantages in every power position for the…
Where do we go from here: The ex-SBC, part III
By David Gushee Follow David on Twitter: @dpgushee My description and diagnosis of the lack of theological identity and clarity in the ex-SBC world seems to have struck a chord. I don’t hear any dissenting analysis, though perhaps it exists…
Blurry vision and how we got here: The ex-SBC, part II
By David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee Given the wide conversation sparked by my last column, about the lack of theological clarity and identity found in that slice of the U. S. Christian community that became ex-Southern Baptist, I…
What will ex-Southern Baptists be when they grow up?
By David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee It has been 35 years since the Southern Baptist Convention “conservative resurgence/fundamentalist takeover” began in earnest, 27 years since the Alliance of Baptists was formed by frustrated Baptist progressives, and 23 years since the…
Romans 13, Michael Dunn and gun-toting citizen vigilantes
David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee Once again a white civilian has used a gun to kill a black civilian in Florida. Once again a jury has failed to convict the white man of any crime against the now-dead…