James Leo Garrett, a renowned Southern Baptist scholar and teacher remembered as one of the last “gentleman theologians,” died Feb. 5 in Nacogdoches, Texas. He was 94.
‘Salvation’ is a good and godly word that needs rehabilitating; and progressive Christians can help
Many definitions of salvation today would have us deny our humanity rather than trust it as the source and center of Christian faith. Progressive Christians can offer a deeper, more biblical understanding of what God’s saving grace means.
After investigation, religion dean leaves Southwest Baptist University to return to pastorate
Rodney Reeves, dean of the Redford School of Religion at Southwest Baptist University, announced Sunday on Facebook his call as senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The church announced the vote to extend the call as 374-1.
Theological conversations are not just for theologians, ministers and seminary students
There’s something wonderful about demystifying some of the “verities” alongside thoughtful students of the Bible who are eager learners about how what we believe shapes our lives.
The most dangerous subject in a seminary’s curriculum
Church history challenges the arrogance of believing that our theological constructions are the product of own reading of scripture and not built upon millennia of political, social and economic history. It challenges the idea that we are self-made Christians.
More malarkey: Theologian calls out Southern Baptists over reparations, women’s subordination
The first female professor of theology to be awarded tenure at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, says her alma mater missed an opportunity to atone for its complicated legacy of slavery when it refused to consider reparations for a historically black college in the same community.
I’m on a mission to rid the world of theological malarkey
I recently used the term “theological malarkey” in response to a question related to Trinitarian theology. That has inspired me to call out a few other forms of theological malarkey in American religion today.
Seminary president dismisses eternal subordination in the Trinity as ‘theological malarkey’
Patriarchal assumptions of biblical writers and centuries of interpretation by men lead too many Christians today to wrongly believe that God is literally male, a female seminary president from the United States told a group of Baptist scholars at an international conference July 5-7 in Nassau, Bahamas.
Searching for false gods: a challenge to the argument for inclusiveness
The theological assertion of God’s inclusive nature is used to justify the church’s inclusion of gay persons into the full life of the church. Could not another person, equally sincere, conclude from scripture that God is not affirming of sexual relationships between same sex persons?