Play? How dare my friend, Len Sweet, suggest I interrupt my lifelong commitment to workaholism and please God with play. I’m too busy working for God to play with God. Fortunately that is exactly what Len Sweet does for me…
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…
The beauty of Ash Wednesday (and Lent)
By Jeff Harris Ash Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the year. I realize this may sound odd, as I usually prefer feast days to fast days (feel free to insert joke about Baptist preachers and fried chicken…
Finding ourselves
By Molly T. Marshall Have you succumbed to discovering which state you really belong in, what literary character you are, which biblical heroine or hero you are, or whether you live upstairs or downstairs in Downton Abbey? (I am Lady…
Taking aim at the bull’s-eye of religious experience
By Joseph Phelps There is something so obviously amiss with the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s gun-giveaway evangelism that it may not require commentary. But ecclesial silence might be confused with complicity. Someone needs to state the obvious. What most offends some…
Top 10 Things that Show You are Not taking Lent Seriously
In commemoration of the Lenten season, a top ten list of things that show you just aren’t taking Lent seriously. 10. You think Ash Wednesday is kind of like “Downtown after Five,” only on Wednesday and only once a year….
A sacred moment in a hair salon
By Gary Cook Thai Le Nugyen is my first really good friend who is Vietnamese, and she is my first really good friend who is Catholic in her faith. I had an uncle who married a young Pennsylvania Dutch woman….
How churches discover world-changing breakthroughs
By John Chandler In last fall’s technology issue of The Atlantic, James Fallows reported the findings of a panel of experts assembled to describe the 50 greatest breakthroughs since the wheel. These historians, entrepreneurs and tech strategists came up with…
Latest outrage at Ole Miss points to a deeper distress
The University of Mississippi just can’t outrun its association with bigotry. In 2012, a crowd of angry white students expressed their displeasure in the wake of Barack Obama’s re-election. And just last week, a small group of freshmen wrapped an…
What Norman Rockwell and Blanche DuBois have in common
By Mark Wingfield Say the name “Norman Rockwell,” and immediately iconic images of vintage Americana spring to mind. His paintings of Boy Scouts of America and for the covers of the Saturday Evening Post all portray a vision of American…
Proof being a pastor is a tough job
As I’m shaking hands with church goers after worship one Sunday, I talk with a congregant about meeting him during the week. His reply? “I thought pastors only worked one day a week!” Truth be told, we full-time (and part-time…
Reserving the right
By Bill Leonard When I was a kid in Decatur, Texas, there was a hole-in-the-wall diner called Shorty’s Stop located just off State Highway 81 in that county seat town. Some guy named Shorty owned the place where I had…