As the Southern Baptist Convention in its recent annual meeting has proved itself unreliably Baptist, it gives me pause to think about how quickly the transmogrification of this Baptist denomination into its ecclesiastical opposite has happened. Baptist folk often have...
These days the words of the Psalmist keep coming to mind: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills; From where shall my help come?” I imagine that when he wrote these words, the chaos of his life was swirling around…
Americans hold double standards about cases of religiously motivated violence, with white evangelicals most inconsistent and the religiously unaffiliated the most consistent. In a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, Americans were asked if people who perpetrate acts…
Robert Parham, founding executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, died March 5 following an illness. He was 63. “More than anyone I have known, Robert was well-suited for and passionate about his specific job in life,” Kevin Heifner,…
We should limit political activity by churches—but not speech from the pulpit.
Though most pastors, regardless of gender, are satisfied with their role, female pastors are more likely than male pastors to wish they had been more prepared for the expectation they “must do everything” and must do it “perfectly.”
I don’t know about you, but I view the daily headlines with a sort of fascinated dread. I can’t bear to watch and I can’t turn away. Every day, there’s more bad news for public education, undocumented immigrants and the…
Like most Americans, ministers and their families are facing exploding health-care costs. And for many clergy, the resulting frustration and stress comes on top of the long hours and low pay associated with their callings. Throw in the rising suspense…
Nearly 50 clergy members identifying with the Alliance of Baptists, American Baptist Churches USA or Cooperative Baptist Fellowship joined a legal brief filed March 2 supporting a transgender student’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In all more than 1,800…
Twenty years ago, a single act of speaking truth to power cost one quiet seminary librarian his job. Paul Debusman worked at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., for 35 years until his “involuntary retirement” 10 months ahead of schedule…
In coming months, expect to hear a lot about the Benedict Option. It’s a provocative vision for Christians which derives its name from a 6th-century monk who left the crumbling Roman Empire to form a separate community of prayer.
The arrival of the pair at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington is not a first for American churches, but experts say it’s rare in Baptist life. Conservative Christians have criticized the church’s decision, while progressives have cheered it.
Practicing faith in community involves helping cultivate imagination for the possibility of living life beyond the restrictive dictates of an oppressive status quo and then faithfully living into that holy vision together. In Harvard Square these days, this means the…
