[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,…
Why Christians can and should support the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality
The Supreme Court’s landmark decision now makes same-sex marriage the law of the land which Christians can and should support. Here’s why.
Christian Fundamentalism’s Grand Illusion
I often tell my conservative friends that their belief in an inerrant Bible is just as subjective as my subjective belief in an errant Bible. But they just can’t see it. They continue to shout the same refrain that their…
Guilt by association: Why Franklin Graham is bad for my church
(A letter from Russ Dean, Co-Pastor at Park Road Baptist Church, to The Charlotte Observer regarding its coverage of Franklin Graham’s call for a boycott of Wells Fargo Bank.) Dear Editors, I am frustrated you chose to run as a…
Reaping what we sow
One of the principles that spans both testaments of Scripture is that we reap what we sow. It’s gardening season where I live. Planting a garden has a built-in object lesson for this principle. Whatever kind of seed you put…
TO: Denny Burk, Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate arm of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY
MEMO TO: Denny Burk, Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate arm of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. FROM: The Faith on the Fringe SUBJECT: Christian messages like yours contribute to the decline of Christianity…
A Scripture lesson on fundamentalism (and how progressives differ from conservatives)
The seventh chapter of John offers some important insights into the nature of fundamentalism. Consider the following: Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here…
Can we be moderate and judgmental at the same time?
The first clue should have been when the Internet trolls didn’t immediately show up and condemn me as a liberal heretic. And then when some normally affirming voices fell curiously silent, it became obvious something was amiss. This response—or lack…