By Darrell Gwaltney The latest James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” delivers the anticipated Bondsian formula of chase scenes, exotic scenery, beautiful women and villains. It also delivers resurrection and a little classic poetry along the way. Bond, James Bond, is making…
Sandy overshadows Isaac response
By Jeff Brumley Knoxvillian Kendall McCosh spent the better part of last week providing disaster relief — not in the Sandy-plagued Northeast but in Louisiana, rehabbing homes ravaged by winds and flooding from Hurricane Isaac on Aug. 29. McCosh, a former…
Online security of the believer
By Bob Allen All Christians confess that Jesus is Lord, but he’s a poor choice for a computer password, according to an annual listing of passwords on the Internet most prone to hacking. “Jesus” for the first time made the…
When should we say retard?
By Darrell Gwaltney Following the last presidential debate and referring to President Obama, conservative commenter Ann Coulter tweeted: “I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.” Reaction to her poor choice of words was…
Radio host: evangelicals ignoring abuse
By Bob Allen A Christian radio host says it’s time for evangelical churches to wake up to an “epidemic” of sexual abuse of children going on in their midst. “I don’t know how long evangelicalism can ignore this problem,” host…
A fundamentally unserious culture
By David Gushee Months ago I agreed to a heavy travel schedule that would take me away from the television during the climax of our endless presidential campaign. I caught glimpses of the VP debate at a diner in New…
Author offers tips on handling critics
By Bob Allen Both praised and scorned for her take on controversial topics such as Christians and evolution and gender roles for husbands and wives, author Rachel Held Evans has rapidly become an expert in dealing with criticism. “As an…
Mumford & Sons sing of grace and life
By Darrell Gwaltney I have been listening to Mumford & Sons’ new album Babel. Its deep biblical allusions and challenging lyrics about relationships and redemption invite repeated listenings. There’s enough in the album to keep my attention for a while….
Online community as missions field
By Jeff Brumley Jim Somerville pastors a Baptist congregation in Virginia that, thanks to the Internet, includes people living in Austria, India and Slovakia. And now, he learned recently, some guy in Iowa. “He said ‘I tune in online and…