If Vladimir Putin wanted to invade a former Soviet-bloc country and get the blessings of American Christians, he might have done better than choosing Ukraine. Among all the countries that once made up the USSR, Ukraine today stands out as…
Why biblical inerrancy should be a litmus test
Editor’s note: One of the blessings of engaging with a variety of young theologians as writers for BNG is allowing room for differing opinions. Despite the perception of some, our contributors are not all cut from the same cloth. And…
How the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy became a litmus test
“Do you affirm the doctrine of inerrancy as articulated in the Chicago Statement?” demands Denny Burk, professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, tweeting his line in the sand to defend what he thinks are attacks against historic orthodoxy by the ever-so-dangerous…
Putin is no Antichrist; he’s worse than that
In my last article, I related the rapture to Russia. Tied to the rapture is the idea of the Antichrist. My purpose now is to show that Vladimir Putin is not the Antichrist but that the danger he poses is…
What an experiment with psychedelics 60 years ago might teach us about faith today
Sixty years ago, on Good Friday 1962, Civil Rights leader and minister Howard Thurman preached in Marsh Chapel on Boston University’s campus. Full of striking verbal imagery about Jesus’ suffering and God’s glory, his 85-minute sermon shook the otherwise silent…
The post-Cold War ‘peace’ is dead; long live the struggle for liberal democracy
The matter-of-fact finality of these words startled me: “The post-Cold War order, which began in 1989, ended in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine and said it had no right to exist as an independent nation.” The declaration came from Charles…
Let’s be clear: Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is not about the rapture and Russia in biblical prophecy
As soon as “Russia” and “war” are mentioned in the same sentence, all the premillennial, rapture, tribulation, Armageddon believers are on high alert. The Rapture Index (yes, there is such a thing) is at 186. The all-time high for the…
Don’t forget the religious implications of geopolitical upheaval
For weeks the world has been holding its breath as the simmering tensions between Russia and Ukraine reached a boiling point. When Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the pot boiled over. Already we have seen via global news…
In this Lenten season, consider the plight of subminimum wage workers
Black History Month has just drawn to a close on the American civic calendar, and Lent is set to begin on the Christian liturgical calendar. Most years, these two observances partially overlap. Easter has to fall after April 15 for…