One of the most noteworthy theological trends in 21st-century pop Calvinism has been the rehabilitation of the patriarchy. From Josh Howerton to Mark Driscoll to John MacArthur and more, iconic pastors are now routinely given platforms and sympathetic backstories that attempt to complicate categories of good and…
Looking for God in the midst of the storm
The wind was rushing so strong that it sounded like someone left water running outside as I woke up early last Friday morning. When our kids found their way through the dark house to our room, we looked out the…
Deconstructing God as king
As Donald Trump criticizes Kamala Harris for supposedly “turning Black,” laughing too expressively or creating AI-generated crowds, his poll numbers are slipping. Therefore, many of his political advisers are urging him to focus on policies. One of the most common…
Watching SBC men posture for position is exhausting
It’s exhausting to the soul. That’s what I’m feeling as I consider all the possible stories I could write regarding what white conservative men have planned for this year’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis. Capturing most headlines is…
Butker’s commencement speech echoes MacArthur and other male supremacists
With Pride Month looming over the horizon and women graduating from college, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker decided to attack “dangerous gender ideologies” when he gave the commencement address at Benedictine College. Butker, an outspoken conservative Catholic, believes the…
Here’s how toxic male supremacy keeps on infecting the church, even in a supposed ‘apology’
“So, that’s awesome, man,” megachurch pastor Josh Howerton concluded in what he claimed was an apology to his congregation on Sunday. “Can we move on now? Y’all good with that? We’re gonna do that. That’s what we’re going to do….
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…
More thoughts on Mary breastfeeding, hierarchy and ‘kin-dom’ versus ‘kingdom’
Peel back the layers of our modern-day debate over the role of women in the church and you’ll find the underlying stumbling block has to do with hierarchy and bodies. BNG ran an Advent series written by Julia Goldie Day…
‘The moment we allow our hearts to go numb to the deaths of any children is the moment we shut down our humanity’
As someone whose ancestors immigrated to the United States from Lebanon, the faces of children suffering in the war in Israel remind me of my own children. The limp body of a 5-year-old girl being carried through the rubble, and…