How does God interact with the world? Does God directly manage and determine the course of global and human events? Many Christians think so. Several years ago a parishioner who was dying of cancer and had only days left said…
Billy Graham’s shadow: Chuck Templeton and the crisis of American religion
It was August of 1949 and Billy Graham had never been so depressed. Twelve years after “surrendering to preach” on a Florida golf course, the evangelist was wrestling with doubts. He had been reading neo-orthodox theologians like Karl Barth and…
It’s time to give the Gospel of Thomas its due
The spiritual wisdom to be found in the Gospel of Thomas just may be the kind of spiritual wisdom contemporary Christians most need. The Gospel of Thomas is part of the collection of fifty-two texts (thirteen papyrus books – “codices”)…
Are there Bible prophecies about contemporary events?
“Gaza will writhe in agony.” ” Gaza shall be abandoned.” These are two ominous prophecies about Gaza found in the Old Testament (in Zechariah 9:5 and Zephaniah 2:4). Some claim that what has happened in Gaza over the past ten…
If the Bible has a litmus test…
If the bible has a litmus test…and it’s an if. A big if. I hesitate and say “if” because terrible acts have been committed more than once in history when scripture is sliced, diced, and served up to my personal…
Why dads matter
I grew up in the television heyday of the family sitcom. Shows like The Cosby Show, Full House, Step by Step, Home Improvement, The Wonder Years, Boy Meets World, Family Matters, and so on were hugely popular and as far…
Are Biblical values under attack in the U.S.?
Earlier this month a friend sent me an email that was mainly Dennis Prager’s June 30 article titled “Court Calls an End to Judeo-Christian America.” (That piece on Investor’s Business Daily’s website can be read .) Prager, a nationally syndicated…
Bible: The Pope and Jeb Bush
[This is the fifth of a nine-part series on empowering a faith community to impact the world. Already hospitality, evangelism, missions, and ethics have been explored.] Did you hear Pope Francis? “Jeb!” was all over it. Immediately following the released…
What does it mean to be a Bible believer?
Kevin DeYoung, pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan recently wrote a piece titled, “40 Questions for Christians Now Waving Rainbow Flags.” He laments that some within his evangelical ranks (friends, family members, church members) are “giving their…
Following up: Further Reflections on Al Mohler, Racism, Inerrancy, and Theological Education
What I saw as a weakness in Mohler’s reflection was that while he acknowledged the racism of Boyce, and admitted that Southern Baptists “bear a particular responsibility” to combat racism, his arguments around “orthodoxy” and “heresy” were abstracted from real…
I beg to differ
My colleague in the Baptist ministry, Greg Faulls, has written an article about Christian life in the aftermath of the ruling on same-sex marriage.It mirrors so many others from the evangelical camp, articulating disappointment, angst, awareness of new cultural realities,…
Inerrancy, racism and theological education: Responding to Al Mohler
Note: Portions of this reflection are based on a paper I wrote about inerrancy, slavery, and Reformed heritage in the United States for an independent study. I read Al Mohler’s article “The Heresy of Racial Superiority – Confronting the Past,…