Talking about the “Social Gospel” within a congregational setting can often be difficult. The phrase has come to mean many different things to different people. In recent years public figures like Glenn Beck have spoken negatively of the Social Gospel,…
OPINION: What are we willing to pay for?
Last week, Thom Yorke, lead singer of the band Radiohead, pulled his new album from Spotify in protest of the low return artists receive from the music-sharing site. Pandora and other such sites have similar practices, offering music free or…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Learning from life’s detours
Driving north on Interstate 81 toward Virginia and home, I was enjoying the peace and beauty of East Tennessee’s mountains. I had successfully cleared the traffic congestion of Knoxville’s “malfunction junction” and the four-lane speedway that’s euphemistically labeled I-40 East….
TRENDING: Deism or pantheism?
Last year, the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies published William Tuck’s book, Modern Shapers of Baptist Thought. Shout-out to Bill Tuck and Fred Anderson for this fine compendium of 24 key Baptist influencers from John Broadus to Jimmy Carter,…
VITAL SIGNS: The shredding machine
It was a very impressive group of church leaders. Clergy and laity alike, they were successful and savvy men and women who had been patiently listening to me make repeated invitations to engage in a spiritual discernment process rather than…
TRENDING: SEKAP
Here’s a no-brainer trend: blogs, Twitter and Facebook pronouncements by public religious leaders going viral with all kinds of unintended negative consequences. Besides making me shake my bald head, it raises the question of what the “best practices” trend will…
VITAL SIGNS: Third pig thinking
You remember the story of the Three Little Pigs, don’t you? Sent out by their mother to make their way in the world, they live in fear of the Big Bad Wolf. Their first order of business is to build…
OPINION: Of cucumbers and pickles
Until recently, I hated pickles. I didn’t like the smell or the taste but mostly it was the concept. I felt queasy about eating something sitting in a jar for who knows how long. It seemed too akin to embalming,…
OPINION: The Trayvon Martin case as a symbol
Anyone who followed the Florida v. George Zimmerman court case closely was probably not surprised by the verdict. Even to this legal layman, who saw only snippets of the arguments provided by the media, it seemed that the prosecution’s task…