Moving into new places presents a unique challenge to imagine and re-imagine our past lives in relation to the present locations in which we find ourselves. Walter Rauschenbusch, the late 19th-century and early 20th-century pastor, church historian and social gospel…
OPINION: Returning to Schleitheim
In February 1527, an Anabaptist group known as the Swiss Brethren gathered together at Schleitheim, Switzerland, to help solidify and establish this small movement on the brink of disintegration. The movement had begun less than two years earlier one night…
OPINION: Finding victory in a response, not a vote
Under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from December 1955 to December 1956, black residents of Montgomery, Ala., staged a modern marvel. Creating an intricate system of pick-up points and drop-off points, the African Americans of Montgomery staged…
OPINION: A place for Panamanian pandemonium
This winter break I found myself in Panama with a group of seven individuals from Rock 17, the young adult group from Virginia’s Peninsula Baptist Association. Our travels were spurred by the partnership between Virginia Baptists and the Panamanian Baptist…
OPINION: On this I take my stand
“On this I take my stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” These are the words of Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms on April 18, 1521. On this date, Luther refused to recant his reformation…
OPINION: Vote today — November 7
It has been a long election cycle. I can hardly remember a time when political ads did not take up the majority of a commercial break. The votes have been cast. Late last night the election was decided in favor…
OPINION: A church of sinners or a church of saints
Have we as Virginia Baptists reverted to the early church schismatic movement of Donatism? Perhaps it is not surprising since early Anabaptists were accused of the very same. It was the Donatist schism that emerged in the early fourth century…
OPINION: A different kind of accountability
The church has always stressed holding one another accountable, but do we ever notice the attempts of non-Christians to hold the church accountable to a higher, Christian standard? The last day of classes at the College of William and Mary…
OPINION: The BJC at 75
I am finishing up a student internship with the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. This year the BJC celebrates its 75th anniversary as a religious organization devoted solely to the protection of our first freedom. With offices located across…