It may now seem surprising to many United Methodists, and even more Baptists, that for most of our histories in the United States, all Methodists and Baptists were regularly designated as evangelical denominations. The most important reason is that both...
On the eve of the Nov. 3 presidential election, a Nigerian of Yoruba extraction in Houston named Ayodele was asked who he would vote for. “I’m for Biden,” Ayodele replied, but he immediately went on to say, in a tone…
His name never was mentioned, but a Nov. 17 panel discussion on how to restore civility in public discourse drew a portrait of Donald Trump and his disciples as examples of what must be overcome. And both speakers were conservative…
The spectacle seemed to dominate every news station, barber shop, beauty shop and church fellowship hall across the nation. For months on end, an excerpt of a sermon offered in the sacred confines of the Black church had taken center…
I am one of those white Baby Boomer guys who has screwed up everything — or at least the finger has pointed often our way. I don’t totally deny it. I grew up in Oklahoma, Tulsa. When I went off…
In the beginning of his 2016 book titled The End of White Christian America, Robert P. Jones issued an obituary for white Christian America. The time of death was listed as “in the latter part of the first decade of…
The rapidly changing landscape of theological education for moderate and progressive Baptists will take yet another new turn next fall with a focus on Virginia. Less than two years after the closure of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, two new…
The incoming Biden administration has an opportunity to “normalize” immigration policy but may face opposition to some common-sense actions by Republican leaders who still fear Donald Trump’s supporters, according to a bipartisan panel of presenters at the National Immigration Forum….
The mandate of the Scriptures in James is clear, to care for the widow and the orphan. If this is the case, then why are we so slow to do so? Why are we living in a time where there…
I am a Baptist theologian, and “professor of historical theology” is my specific job title. It is therefore of no little interest to me that a political controversy moving into the national spotlight involves a candidate who is a fellow…
Everybody deserves to have that one person in life who sees your true potential and is determined to bring it to fruition. I was fortunate to have such an encourager, who was my boss for five years, my friend for…
As Americans debate and fret over how — or whether — they will have health insurance in the days ahead, might they once again look to Baptists for a solution? The creator of modern health insurance was a Baptist layman…
In the movie “Seabiscuit,” an early sequence shows how the fabled racehorse’s owner, Charles Howard, transformed his bicycle-repair business into the San Francisco Bay Area’s most successful automobile dealership in the early age of motoring. Howard met the challenge of…
