Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “The Bible says it; I believe it; that settles it!” On the brink of the upcoming Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, it appears that Baptists continue to wrestle with diverse perspectives on how to read,…
Why Critical Race Theory could be good news for ‘nice white people’
A bedrock theological concept of my formation as a white American evangelical was the idea, best articulated by Paul in Romans 14-20, that there is a war going on within all of us between those things that are good and…
Editing our narratives has the power to heal future generations
There’s a common thread to much of the social conflict we’re seeing in church and society these days, and it has to do with our willingness to edit our own stories. Let’s call it a hardening of the narratives. One…
For universities, when it comes to LGBTQ issues, focus on student well-being
Let’s say you are on the trustee board of a Christian-affiliated university and you are trying to figure out what your school should do about its policies related to LGBTQ students. You have two conservative voices in your ears, one…
Mike Stone and Ronnie Floyd should step down
When I pulled into the seven-figure neighborhood outside Dallas, I began to wonder to myself why a former seminary president would be living in a mansion in this posh suburb near Plano. Then as I pulled up to the door,…
A Palestinian Christian’s cry for justice
As a professor of missions and theology at Logsdon Seminary for 18 years, I was committed to introducing my students to fascinating, significant people whose challenging ideas would instruct and inspire, helping to create more engaged and equipped young adult…
Continuing our retreat from Jesus
This is a photo of me with my father in the upper deck of the New Orleans Superdome at the Southern Baptist Convention in June 1990. We were two of the nearly 40,000 messengers who gathered that year for a…
GAs Gone Bad: Baptist women you should be reading
Nearly 60 years have passed since Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham, N.C., ordained Addie Davis to ministry. Yet somehow, Southern Baptists are still fighting about women in ministry. Saddleback Church in California recently set off a new round of…
On Roger Williams, freedom of conscience and its (sometimes well-intentioned) enemies
I don’t like being told what to do, think or say. You got a problem with that? I know that sounds excessively pugnacious and not very Christian, considering the ugly divisions and hatreds roiling Americans in recent years. But I…
Letter to the Editor: Praise for Chris Conley analysis on abortion debate
Dear Editor: Chris Conley’s opinion piece on finding middle ground in the bitter debate over abortion rights is the most cogent, persuasive perspective I’ve read anywhere. Whatever one’s position on Roe v. Wade, or one’s hopes or fears that it soon will be…
What I learned from spending three days with the ‘Duck Dynasty’ family
I was honored to be invited to spend three days with members of the influential “Duck Dynasty” family. If you know anything about the TV show, you will understand the meaning of the invite to “spend time” with what many…
Critical Race Theory, voter suppression and historical negation: The irony of it all
In his Key into the Language of America (1643), the earliest Native American/English grammar, Roger Williams, that colonial disquieter of the religio-political peace, described his experiences with the Narragansets and other Northeastern native tribes: They were hospitable to everybody, whomsoever…