Many chapters in the story of the Civil Rights movement have been forgotten, modified or intentionally misrepresented. White Americans tend to imagine the movement as less controversial than it was, white resistance as less violent than it was, and the…
The SBC 2023: When dogma trumps gospel
In 1964, Addie Davis was ordained to the gospel ministry by Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham, N.C., becoming the first female ordained by a congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. A new generation of female ordinands soon followed, not…
Dear Southern Baptists, if ‘all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy,’ then listen to all of Scripture
When messengers from churches of the Southern Baptist Convention assemble in New Orleans for their annual meeting this week, they will consider an appeal from Saddleback Church of California to reverse its expulsion over the ordination of female ministers. (See…
Worshiping guns, weaponizing God
I love my guns. To me, they’re beautiful tools. No different than the ancient hand drill passed down from my father, or the simple, bone-handled pocketknife I carry. I marvel at the craftsmanship of these utilitarian devices, the grain of…
‘Woke’: I don’t think that word means what you say it does
I have been bumping into this strange word, “woke,” a lot lately. I wondered what it meant. Digging around, I found “woke” means to be alert to racial and social discrimination and injustice. Why is this considered such a bad…
Six Scriptures undergirding my attitude toward other faiths
Recently, I wrote an opinion piece outlining six lessons I have learned on my interfaith journey. I concluded by stating it was really the way Jesus treated those who were different, the “outsiders,” that prompted my acceptance and celebration of…
What happens when the good news of therapy and the good news of Scripture conflict?
One of the Scriptures I memorized growing up was Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy…
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…
Blessed are both new wineskins and new wine
Expressing the words of the Bible in contemporary language has a long history, as an internet search demonstrates by noting that “the earliest translation into a vernacular European language other than Latin or Greek was the Gothic Bible, by Ulfilas,…