In Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History, the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel, writer and illustrator Art Spiegelman inquires of his Polish Jewish father: “When did you first hear about Auschwitz?” His father, a Holocaust survivor, replies: “Right…
Panel urges Southern Seminary to make amends for past racial sins
Panelists at a Dec. 2 virtual forum on “Race and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary” agreed the Louisville, Ky., school’s entanglements with slavery and racism demand a stronger response than the school has put forward. However, participants in the West…
Southern Seminary won’t rename buildings but creates scholarships for Black students
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary board of trustees simply adhered to biblical principles in voting to keep the names of slave-holding founders on campus buildings, President Al Mohler said. Just as the Bible retains the names of imperfect, sinful leaders…
Southern Seminary leadership nixes idea of reparations for historically black college
A Southern Baptist seminary that in February lamented its historical ties to slavery is unwilling to make monetary reparations to a nearby historically black Baptist college, according to the seminary’s president and trustee chairman.
How do the Gospel, social justice ministry and meditation mix? Ask Joe Phelps
If it were anyone else but Joe Phelps, news of a retired Baptist preacher extolling the virtues of meditation as a means of social justice may sound like a sign of the End Times.
Pastor’s traffic stop prompts talk of racial profiling in Kentucky city
Black and white clergy in Louisville, Kentucky, called for a formal review of police policies after a respected ministry colleague was pulled over Saturday night for what some view as the American slang term for racial profiling “driving while black.”…
Kentucky governor fires back at prayer walk critics
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin suggested last week on Facebook that clergy critics of his plan to fight crime by assigning roving bands of prayer warriors to walk blocks in West Louisville are probably going to hell. “I don’t know that…
The civility of discourse
“They’ll tell anything on you down in town.” So the serpent-handling woman says as she sits on her Appalachian front porch, killing flies and defending her church’s approach to the sixteenth chapter of Mark’s Gospel. Whether in cheap novels, academic…
CBF adopts new model for funding field personnel
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is embarking on a new course for national and international missions, one designed to broaden relationships between churches and field personnel and to boost the Fellowship’s global presence. CBF members voted during its General Assembly in…
Embrace ‘extremist’ Christianity to counter hate, ministers say
Joe Phelps admits he is a Christian extremist. For years, he’s being spreading his brand of faith all over Louisville, Ky., where he’s the pastor of Highlands Baptist Church. And now he admits he’d like to see it catch on…
Louisville, Claypool and another gospel
A few weeks ago Albert Mohler, president of the Baptist Seminary in Louisville, compared his views with churches like Highland and Crescent Hill Baptist, as well as our many kindred churches across our city.
Ethics: Have you ever cheated on your taxes or your spouse?
[This is the fourth (ethics) of a nine-part series on empowering a faith community to impact the world. Already hospitality, evangelism, and missions have been explored.] Have you ever cheated on your taxes or your spouse? Have you ever disregarded…