NEW YORK (RNS)—The unexpected death of Thomas Kinkade on April 6 prompted an outpouring of grief for the hugely successful painter of pastoral landscapes, but also raised questions about the troubled final years of an artist whose use of Christian…
Baptist leaders meet with Russian Orthodox primate
MOSCOW—Despite significant theological differences, Baptists and the Russian Orthodox Church appear to share views on some moral issues, the primate of the Russian church told Baptist representatives—including Baptist World Alliance president John Upton—March 29. The meeting with Kirill I, patriarch…
Ken Medema concert to benefit Ministering to Ministers
RICHMOND, Va.—On April 29, Ken Medema brings his musical gifts, his skills at improvisation and his passion for social justice to First Baptist Church of Richmond, Va., for a concert benefitting Ministering to Ministers, a Richmond-based ministry to church staff…
What did Jesus do on Holy Saturday?
NEW YORK (RNS)—Every Christian knows the story: Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. But what did he do on Saturday? That question has spurred centuries of debate, perplexed theologians as learned as…
What did Jesus do on Holy Saturday?
NEW YORK (RNS)—Every Christian knows the story: Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. But what did he do on Saturday? That question has spurred centuries of debate, perplexed theologians as learned as…
Burmese family settles in Virginia, thanks to church
HANOVER COUNTY, Va.—Before the end of April, the Htoo family will be able to hang the welcome sign on their newly-constructed house just outside of Richmond, Va. Their new home in America is an answer to prayer for the family…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Churches lost $1.2 billion in recession
WASHINGTON (RNS)—Even as membership remains relatively stable in U.S. churches, the effects of the recession have caused contributions to drop by $1.2 billion. According to the 2012 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, the almost $29 billion contributed by church…
VITAL SIGNS: The rise of church discipline
Have you noticed our tendency to try and control others with rules? We started with Ten Commandments. That led to Jewish scholars noting that the Torah actually contains 613 commandments, which can be divided into 365 “negative commandments,” and 248…
LETTER: Mired in cultural perceptions
One of the cultural perceptions in which we are mired in the 21st century is that we are superior to those who have gone before. That comes across in your opinion column in the March 5 issue [“Politics as usual?”]….
WINN RECOMMENDS
First Corinthians, Richard Hays (WJK) Hays is best known as an ethicist, penning the now classic Moral Vision of the New Testament. With this volume, however, Hays brings his ethical vision to the task of interpreting I Corinthians, a biblical…
LETTER: Concern about speaker
At first I thought the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia had an ad on your back page about a leadership conference [March 5], but it says Virginia Baptist Mission Board. I lived through the “Baptist Wars,” and my jugular is…
HERITAGE: A famous shootout and the Baptists
It has been exactly 100 years since the infamous shootout on March 14, 1912, involving the Allen family at the Carroll County Courthouse in Hillsville, Va., in which five persons were killed. It happened in the packed courtroom immediately after…