A few weeks ago, I sat with a Baptist leader who described himself as a “moderate Baptist.” He meant it as a compliment, and most people in our circles would receive it that way. After all, “moderate” is one of...
Back in 1496, the young aspiring Italian artist Michelangelo recreated a sculpture of the sleeping Eros. The forgery depicted the Greek god of passionate love laying on his side in deep slumber. Collectors of his day highly sought these small…
Although recording artists Flamy Grant and Semler both had No. 1 songs on the Christian music charts in 2023, neither artist was asked to participate in the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards, Contemporary Christian Music’s premier event recognizing achievement within…
On Aug. 24, Zimbabwe held presidential elections where the military-supported governing party, which has governed for 43 years, won again, dubiously against a 45-year-old pastor. The bitter aftertaste of the election, which the United States government condemned as a “sham,”…
How often do we hear from the pulpit and from lawmakers that diverse sexualities and genders are unnatural? This year, the United States already has set records for anti-LGBTQ legislative bills, and violence against queer people, especially trans and nonbinary…
Being in Israel during the outbreak of war is like witnessing the unfolding of history in its most horrible and violent aspects, George Mason said Oct. 9 from near the Sea of Galilee. Mason had been in Jerusalem two days…
When Phyllis Webstad was 6, her grandmother took her to town to buy a new outfit for the first day of school. “I chose a shiny new orange shirt. It was bright and exciting, just how I felt about going…
There is something inherently beautiful about gathering with Baptist Women in Ministry. The stories we share with one another are sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious and often a little bit of both. We giggle our way through stories of the inappropriate…
When Zina Jacque went to tell her pastor she had sensed God’s call to ministry, “He looked at me square in the face and said, ‘The God that I taught you did not call you into ministry.’ And if he…
Anyra Cano has been named chair of the board of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, making her the first Latina chair in the group’s 87-year history. At the same time, Sofi Hersher Andorsky has become the first Jewish vice…
Friends and colleagues have sometimes considered Corey D.B. Walker, the new dean of Wake Forest University School of Divinity, as somewhat of an academic jack-of-all-trades given his extensive research, writing, teaching and higher education leadership experience. “A lot of people…
In his memoir, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man, Paul Newman writes, “I wonder what my old age is going to be like, because I really don’t have many friends. It’s hard to feel lonely in New York, but…
Normally, I’m a defender of the so-called “mainstream media,” in part because I am one of that group. However, when it comes to understanding and reporting on Israel and Palestine, almost all media outlets have failed Americans who seek clear…
