One hundred years ago, May 21, 1922, Harry Emerson Fosdick preached his most famous sermon, “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” He was at the time the preaching minister of the First Presbyterian Church in New York City. The Presbyterian denomination along…
Secular revolutions and religious counterrevolutions
In 2015, highly esteemed Princeton political philosopher Michael Walzer published The Paradox of Liberation: Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions. The title itself immediately arrested me, as it crystallized a current intuition of mine. I believe the United States and several…
Connect the dots from Methodists to Baptists to Episcopalians to Presbyterians and national politics
Maybe this is simply stating the obvious, but here goes: There is a pattern to what is happening in the United Methodist Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church and other American churches. And that pattern…
January 6 truth or consequences
Seeking out the truth has seldom been more urgent for Americans than it is now. We possess more factual information than any generation in human history yet differ over the most basic propositions. The dichotomy threatens our future. Truth makes…
One of America’s favorite Christian authors finally tells his own story
If there was a look to being a New York Times best-selling author for the last several decades, Philip Yancey wouldn’t be it. Which is why even he is surprised at what his life has become looking back. Yancey, whose…
Putting the white in witness since the 1940s
Now is the time to bring our conversation about whiteness and world-viewing into the present tense. The language and concept of worldviews are somewhat clear in many corners of evangelicalism today, but how does whiteness figure into these concepts? And…
As a religious abuse survivor, this is my message to Baptist pastors
I shrank into the pew, wincing every time the preacher behind the pulpit raised his voice. I was just a child, terrified that I was evil and a sinner beyond redemption. At 7 years of age, I converted and believed…
History shows ‘integrity’ and ‘inerrancy’ don’t go together
“Integrity” is an interesting word. It is a powerful word. It can be an elusive word. The president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary wrote in a 2020 piece that was published in the Baptist Standard not long after he arrived…
Southern Baptists, power and the continuum of sexual violence
Note to readers: This article includes content related to sexual abuse and violence against women. The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention has found yet another way to retraumatize survivors of clergy abuse and accentuate the convention’s long history…