(Editor’s Note: A column that Associated Baptist Press published Feb. 23, written by Miguel De La Torre and offering a novel take on one of the New Testament’s most difficult passages, set off a lively discussion about biblical interpretation in…
Music review: Grace inside a sound — U2, ‘No Line on the Horizon’
By Steve Harmon “This is the most thoroughly Christian thing they’ve done yet.” That was my initial reaction to the last two U2 albums in 2000 and 2004. In retrospect, that was just as true of the triad of albums…
The church: Always in need of reformation
By David Gushee “And if we glance again at Jewish history and see the strangeness and absurdity of the Jew, his obnoxiousness which repeatedly made him odious among the nations — and now you may give the anti-Semitic register full…
Of God and guns
By Benjamin Cole Count me among those Baptists who are about as likely to carry a leather-bound King James Bible as we are to carry a stainless-steel Colt Python .357. Etched with almost equal prominence in my memories of childhood…
Was Jesus a racist?
By Miguel De La Torre Our faith tells us that anyone can come to Jesus. The evangelistic message is that Jesus will turn no one away. We can come just as we are, ill and diseased. All who seek healing…
In vitro industry out of control
By David Gushee In January, a California woman named Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets through in vitro fertilization. These eight babies were added to six others that Suleman had also conceived through in vitro procedures. Nadya Suleman is an…
Faith versus science?
By Marv Knox Talk about a pointless war. The battle between faith and science just doesn’t make sense. The whole world seems to be thinking about the relationship of science and religious faith this week, as we mark the 200th…
Christian ethical values and government emergency spending
By David Gushee Every major public-policy decision involves arguments about facts, interests, and values. All three have been on display in the fierce debate over the massive $789 billion economic stimulus plan that, as of this writing, was about to…
The habit of excess
By David Gushee Contemporary ethicists have retrieved an ancient insight by emphasizing the central role of habit in morality. After centuries of moral theories that focused on identifying rational moral principles that ought to govern human decision making, today’s ethicists…