Baptism was abused and used violently as a form of capital punishment in 16th century Europe, a time of significant Anabaptist persecution. The death method of choice was drowning in order to mock believer’s baptism. Water has the amazing capacity…
Baptist environmentalism: remembering Earth Day 1970 and Henlee Barnette
April 22, 1970 was an important day in the history of our nation. It marked the first-ever celebration of Earth Day — an event that put environmentalism front-and-center in American society in a very visible way. With more than 20…
Our Silence is driving millennials out of the church
David Gushee, a theologian and ethicist who teaches at the McAfee School of Theology, struck a nerve when he suggested that moderate Baptists with roots in the Southern Baptist Convention could benefit from a statement of faith. Bill Leonard, my…
FutureBaptists: A collaborative missional movement
March 6thand 7th a diverse group of Baptists from North America gathered in Philadelphia for the 50th anniversary of the North American Baptist Fellowship [NABF] of the Baptist World Alliance. Using the title—FutureBaptists: A Collaborative Missional Movement—this gathering was more…
I have moved on
My friend Marv Knox recently wrote a wise column in which he urged Baptists to move on from past bitterness through repentance and forgiveness. As Knox noted, others such as David Gushee and Mark Wingfield have recently written on our…
The crazy lady in the attic
Fred Phelps is dead and there is no one to mourn his passing. In the end, poor Fred was abandoned even by the cult his hate built. One is tempted to see Fred Phelps as an extreme expression of the…
Baptists and Catholics together–Twitter edition
What do Baptists and Catholics have in common? That sounds like the set-up for a joke of some sort–or at least for a very brief response, given the anti-Catholicism that has marked much of the Baptist tradition (even when we…
Baptists eye catechism (again) to instruct the faithful
By Jeff Brumley There may just be an ancient solution to the modern church’s problems of decreasing attendance and rising religious illiteracy in a post-modern culture turned off by denominational brand names, some leading Baptist scholars and educators say. The…
A pioneering spirit
The church in America was built by men (and some women) who were itinerant preachers. Some followed the example of John Wesley and were circuit riders, traveling from church to church or gathering to gathering on horseback or foot to…