Thirty years ago next month, Marv Knox and I warned Southern Baptists about the rising influence of Neo-Calvinism in their ranks. To most, this was shocking news at the time. Our words were more prophetic than we possibly could have…
“Stuck in the Middle with You’ podcast drops 10th episode
BNG’s new limited-series podcast, “Stuck in the Middle with You,” now has 10 episodes available for streaming and download. The series features BNG Executive Director Mark Wingfield in dialogue with Benjamin Cole, also known as The Baptist Blogger. Each episode…
White Calvinist theology has gone to hell
“They’re going to hell,” declared Founders Ministry president and Southern Baptist pastor Tom Ascol. In a scene reminiscent of Oprah Winfrey’s “You Get a Car” giveaway, Ascol proclaimed, “Kamala Harris is going to hell, … (Anne) Branigin is going to…
Southern Baptist Calvinists crave authority, not Baptist theology
Do not be fooled by the new Calvinists among the Southern Baptists who are stirring fears of liberals in the denomination. Lies are being told about liberal influences in one of the most conservative denominations in the nation. And the…
The Law Amendment may not be the most important action taken at next week’s SBC annual meeting
The Southern Baptist Convention has been at war with itself for more than 40 years, with each new battle promising uniformity that never materializes for long. This year’s SBC annual meeting, happening next week in Indianapolis, represents another major front…
Why a Calvinist pastor may be coming to your church
Recently, I heard yet another story of a “centrist” Southern Baptist church calling a pastor who is inevitably going to steer the church sharply to the right. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in theology to understand this. It only takes…
What grief, denial and fear have to do with the evangelical fascination with Trump
“Whether Trump means it or not is kind of irrelevant because he’s saying the things to people who are hurting,” filmmaker Michael Moore told a gathering of voters in his 2016 documentary TrumpLand. “It’s why every beaten down, nameless, forgotten working stiff who…
Pope Francis vs. John Piper: Two views of ‘masculinizing’ the church
“One of the great sins we have had is ‘masculinizing’ the church,” Pope Francis admitted to the International Theological Commission last month in what could potentially become the most impactful theological repentance of the year. “Women have a capacity for…
In dialogue with Doug Wilson and the ‘pop Calvinists,’ at least Wilson is consistent
Twenty-three years after John Piper called Doug Wilson an “absolute genius at sarcasm and irony,” pop Calvinists are still wringing their hands over how to respond to the conservative Reformed pastor from Moscow, Idaho. “You’re very clever, really clever. And…