Theologian Miroslav Volf writes, “I’ve come to believe … that the Christ of the Gospels has become a moral stranger to us.” He adds, “If you read the Gospels, the things that profoundly mattered to Christ, they marginally matter to…
Nazi ideology wrapped in an American flag
Sinclair Lewis is quoted as saying, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” He wrote his novels in the 1930s, the time of the first “America First” movement when our nation…
Buttrick and Buechner in the balcony of heaven
It was Carlyle Marney, I think, who first named our personal saints in the “great cloud of witnesses” as those in “the balcony of heaven.” On the occasion of the death of Frederick Buechner, I offer these memories of the…
Frederick Buechner influenced millions with his insightful writing and quotable lines
One of the most prolific Christian authors and most widely quoted writers of the 20th century died Aug. 15 at age 96. Only the late C.S. Lewis might have surpassed Frederick Buechner in writings that made their way into sermons…
Celebrating a new generation of ministers overtaken by ‘the call’
In the 50th year of my ordination to “the gospel ministry,” I can’t recall the exact time when I first experienced “the call” from God to do that. Given that I was Texas Baptist born and bred, I may have…