It was the fall of 1975, in my class in Old Testament at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Gentle and soft-spoken, Page Kelley was explaining the plight of the biblical translator. We have the Septuagint, a Greek translation…
The Bible says nothing about queer people
For far too long the LGBTQ community has conceded Christianity to traditionalists and conservatives, allowing them to perpetuate the narrative that the Bible is clearly anti-LGBTQ and that being queer is a sin. But the truth is that most of…
There is no way to be against racism and ethnic discrimination but remain in support of sexism and gender discrimination
Christine A. Smith calls sexism in the church’s ongoing life “the stained-glass ceiling” — the invisible but often impenetrable limits imposed upon female clergy. The stained-glass ceiling takes many forms. Among the most common are differences in salary between men…
Brogdon urges forthright approach to ‘problematic’ biblical texts
While Lewis Brogdon doesn’t describe the Bible as fragile, he wants to help people interpret its content with care. That is one of the reasons Brogdon, associate professor preaching and Black church studies at Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, wrote a…
Three billboards outside Nashville, Tennessee
During most trips down the interstate, drivers mindlessly zoom past billboards bombarding them with a blur of messages on their way to wherever they’re going. But every once in a while, travelers are confronted with a message about a different…
Why such a need for literalism?
Why does a literal reading of the Bible hold such attraction for Christians? More to the point: How has belief in literalism led to Christian nationalism, to such awful ideas about how immigrants should be treated, to discrimination against women…
Sometimes it’s not a good idea to quote the Bible
Just because you’re quoting the Bible doesn’t mean you’re not embracing racism. That’s a lesson Coach Mark Adams of Texas Tech University learned the hard way last week. While the comments that got him fired were discouraging and inappropriate, what’s…
Crash-course in Bible history: How the Bible came to be
What is the Bible? Christians may think of the Bible as the “word of God,” a guidebook for life, a book of stories or sayings that teach spiritual lessons about what it means to be a human. As kids, we…
Letter to the Editor: Baptists in NSW/ACT have made a bad decision
Letter to the Editor November 22, 2022 Dear Editor: As reported by BNG, Baptist Christians in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory have decided to implement the following resolution: “Marriage is a covenant relationship ordained by God as…