“And so it begins.” As nominations for leadership of government agencies are announced by the newly elected American president, the words of Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written around Christmas 1942, seem startlingly relevant: We have been silent witnesses of evil…
Wine, women and gospel: A perilous inerrancy
In Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South, author John G. Crowley writes that for those Appalachian Baptists, “the use of fermented wine, usually made by the deacons” is standard in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper, a biblical mandate they…
Mike Johnson and Steve Bannon spar over whether it is ‘God’s will’ that Joe Biden is president
The conservative Southern Baptist speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who sought to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, now says it is “God’s will” that Joe Biden is president. That didn’t sit well with another of…
Mr. Speaker, what might the Wizard of Oz-es teach us about engaging the Bible?
New Speaker of the House Mike Johnson recently commented that he is a “Bible-believing” Christian, and all anyone needs to do to understand his view on any topic is to read the Bible. Politicians of every stripe often trample faith…
What explains the abiding appeal of biblical inerrancy?
It was the fall of 1975, in my class in Old Testament at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Gentle and soft-spoken, Page Kelley was explaining the plight of the biblical translator. We have the Septuagint, a Greek translation…
Three billboards outside Nashville, Tennessee
During most trips down the interstate, drivers mindlessly zoom past billboards bombarding them with a blur of messages on their way to wherever they’re going. But every once in a while, travelers are confronted with a message about a different…
There’s something odd about this Mary, did you know?
When one of the foremost progressive Protestant preachers of the day cites your academic paper — at length — in a sermon at one of the most-watched annual gatherings of the year, you should be prepared for a sudden influx…
Belief in a literal interpretation of the Bible at all-time low among Americans, Gallup reports
While response to recent Supreme Court rulings on abortion, religious liberty and gun control have shown how widely out of step conservative evangelicals in America are from the rest of the population, there’s fresh data showing a similar gap on…
Professor writes book to explain his journey from inerrantist to historicist
Like many Christians, Bill Thomason was raised to view the Bible as the inerrant word of God derived from pristine, original manuscripts penned by the individuals actually credited with authoring them. “I grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist church believing…