By Jayne Davis “The road emerged only as I walked it.” — Jurgen Moltmann One of the most exciting things for me in a coaching conversation is listening for the next question. Rather than coming in with the expert hat…
We still can’t handle the truth: ‘American Sniper’ and the religion of empire
Chris Kyle is widely regarded as a war hero in Stephenville, the Texas town where Eddie Ray Routh was recently convicted of murdering the most celebrated veteran of the Iraq war. Several jurors had recently seen American Sniper, a Clint…
Christians for socialism
“Socialism” is a word with a very negative connotation for most Americans. And yet perhaps socialism, especially democratic socialism, deserves to be much more highly evaluated by the public at large and by Christians in particular. Last month I read…
A museum of the Bible is the wrong kind of monument
The founder of the Hobby Lobby chain is building a Bible museum in Washington, D.C. That’s nice. But building a monument to the Bible runs the risk of compounding the serious problem of Bible worship that has plagued evangelical Christianity…
The Christian university is a home, however imperfect, for pilgrims of the Way
As nations require a constitution to establish jurisdiction, so religions depend upon a canon to provide jurisprudence. A nation which nullifies its constitution will descend into chaos, as will a religion which annuls its authoritative verse. Sadly, in some quarters…
A progressive Baptist response to Roger Olson (and a word about heresy)
Roger Olson, a professor at Truett Theological Seminary and a blogger at Patheos Evangelical recently wrote a piece titled, A Word from a Founder to All My “Moderate Baptist” Friends. His basic argument is that the founder of the Cooperative…
10 ways to increase value of and engagement in church participation, part 1
A noticeable and disturbing trend that is beginning to catch the attention of church consultants, coaches and denominational leaders is that believers are losing interest in church. Not only is there an avoidance of church by many unbelievers, there is…
Don’t just tell me what you believe: Evangelical worship, part 1
Every week I plan worship for my church’s worship services. Our church has four of them; one is traditional, led by choir and orchestra, and the other three are modern, led by band and vocal teams. We are, for the…
This Lent, try using the ‘F’ word more
I don’t always use the “F” word, but when I do, it frequently happens to be Lent. What I like most about using the “F” word is that it has so many different meanings, connotations and contexts to it. It…