By Bob Allen Trends like the waning influence of denominations and rise of the religious “nones” don’t mean that churches should abandon their denominational identity, author and Lutheran church planter Nadia Bolz-Weber said Tuesday evening at Calvary Baptist Church in…
New book details Baptist/Hindu marriage
By Bob Allen Ordained Baptist minister J. Dana Trent got more than she bargained for when she tried to broaden the field on a dating website application by checking boxes for other religions along with Christian and “spiritual but not…
Can I get a witness — again?
By Bill Leonard This month Mercer University Press will release Can I Get a Witness?: Essays, Sermons and Reflections, a collection of materials that I have written during the last few years. Most are previously unpublished, except for a few…
Falling Upward ‘best book I have read in a decade’
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr is the best book I have read in a decade, and I read a lot of books! Richard Rohr spoke to me on every page of this…
Love has no borders
In April of 2011 the legislature of Alabama passed the harshest anti-immigrant law in America. Central Alabama had just been hit by a series of devastating tornadoes, and churches were preoccupied with ministry to those who were victims of the…
Summer Reading
When people ask me what my hobbies are, I usually feel quite lost. I’m not sure exactly what to say because I don’t naturally gravitate toward activities that seem hobby worthy (getting pedicures just doesn’t count does it?). But, there…
Baptist concerns re: common core education
I’m an invested party. I believe in the public education system as a grand experiment in providing the humanizing effects of education to all people. I have a minor in secondary education. I am married to a former educator. I…
Three ways to spend Christmas book money
In 1500 Dutch humanist and theologian Desiderius Erasmus wrote to a friend, “When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” Thanks to gift cards from Amazon or Barnes and…
Why we love the paranormal
What is it about the paranormal that Americans find so fascinating? A Gallup poll found that about 75% of Americans believe in the paranormal (ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, etc…) Nearly 50% believe in ghosts and 41% believe in extrasensory perception….
Saying good-bye to old friends
OK, I will readily admit that I have too many books. My wife and I are both book lovers (bibliophiles, for those who desire a classier word). Our home is packed with books. We have passed this love onto children,…
The meaning of life
Following the Second World War several existentialist authors wrote at length about the meaning of life. One of these was Albert Camus, whose “Myth of Sisyphus” opens with these words: “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide….
“The Blind Side” gets blindsided
Baptist news wires carried the story recently about a successful protest by a Baptist preacher to remove a movie from LifeWay stores. The movie is “The Blind Side,” starring Sandra Bullock. It was based on the book by the same…