On Pilgrimage in Advent

December 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment

On his pilgrimage to Rome in 1263 Peter, a priest from Bohemia, stopped in the ancient Etruscan-Roman city of Bolsena.  He celebrated Mass at the lakeside church of Santa Cristina. Peter had been doubting transubstantiation, doubting the reality of Christ’s presence in Eucharist: was He really there, given as food for sinners, in the bread and wine? Elevating the host, Peter felt it change, becoming flesh, dripping—blood!—on to the altar … [Read More...]

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HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

December 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Wonderful news! Some months back, I posted about the evocative early Christian remains of the Vale of Glamorgan, in South Wales, around such very early centers as Llantwit Major and Llancarfan, which date back to the fifth and sixth centuries. Little did I know that, even as I wrote, archaeologists were making astonishing finds at Llancarfan itself, and these are now being widely publicized. Briefly, the church in the Late Middle Ages – say around the 1480s – was the setting for … [Read More...]

PICTURES WITHOUT WORDS

December 6, 2013 By 4 Comments

I recently attended an outstanding conference at Gordon College on the upcoming celebration of the fifth centennial of the Reformation in 2017 – the half millennium. I’m not going to summarize the Gordon event here, but a project occurred to me, or rather a challenge. Suppose you had to … [Read More...]

Advent Music

December 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I love Advent hymns. My mother was always adamant that Christians had no business singing Christmas hymns prior to at least Christmas eve. We only have four Sundays on which to sing Advent hymns, so there's no musical reason -- and no theologically sound reason -- to rush past our season of hopeful … [Read More...]

Plagiarism, Personality-Driven Leadership, and the Problem With Evangelicalism

December 4, 2013 By 25 Comments

Update: New developments in the Mefferd-Driscoll storyline can be found over at Warren Throckmorton's blog post, "Janet Mefferd Removes Evidence Relating to Charges of Plagiarism Against Mark Driscoll; Apologizes to Audience." Updated 12/4/13 @ 5:14 pm EST The recent dust-up within evangelical … [Read More...]

Why Homeschool?

December 3, 2013 By 4 Comments

My wife and I are not exactly fire-breathing homeschool zealots. Homeschooling is not for everybody, and we have friends in Waco whose kids do just fine in public and private schools. But for us, and for many paleo evangelicals and their fellow travelers, the advantages of homeschooling are quite … [Read More...]

CREDULITY, SUPERSTITION, AND FANATICISM

December 2, 2013 By 2 Comments

I have posted several times on religious images in art and what they can tell us about ideas and debates in earlier eras. I think scholars often pay insufficient attention to the incredible resources that lie in such visual imagery – we can be a very text-bound lot. As an example, I offer … [Read More...]

AMERICANS UNITED FOR WHAT?

November 29, 2013 By 4 Comments

I was thinking about how the media report religious controversies, and particularly how they decide to identify particular individuals as key generals in the ongoing culture wars. (Yes, I know the “culture wars” are usually assigned to the 1990s, but you know what I mean). Recently I read a … [Read More...]

Thanksgiving Edition

November 28, 2013 By 1 Comment

It's Thanksgiving. My plan was to plug my review of Tracy McKenzie's The First Thanksgiving before stuffing myself with eel and turnips. Alas, it's hard to feel thankful when one's co-bloggers interrupt one's plans by both reviewing the same book. But if I also write a hearty endorsement of Tracy's … [Read More...]

Flipping the Bird: Reflections on a Thanksgiving Fraud

November 27, 2013 By 2 Comments

Americans generally view Thanksgiving as an idyllic affair. Kind Indians wearing paper feathers teaching black-and-white clad Pilgrims to survive in the New England wild. Sitting down to eat tryptophan together. And celebrating, if Rush Limbaugh is to be believed in his just-released book Rush … [Read More...]

Review of R. Tracy McKenzie’s The First Thanksgiving

November 26, 2013 By 1 Comment

Over at Christianity Today, I reviewed Robert Tracy McKenzie's excellent The First Thanksgiving. Here's a sample: In 1623, Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford proclaimed the first Thanksgiving. "The great Father," he declared, "has given us this year an abundant harvest...and granted us … [Read More...]

Clergy Housing Allowances Ruled Unconstitutional

November 25, 2013 By 6 Comments

Last week came the news that, in the latest legal success for secularist advocacy groups, a federal judge ruled that clergy's tax-exempt "housing allowance" is unconstitutional. It is difficult to know exactly what the Founders would have thought of this issue, because a) there was no federal income … [Read More...]

THE SIGN OF JONAH

November 22, 2013 By 20 Comments

For many Christians, Biblical literalism is a fraught subject. My own theory is that one can be conservative to different degrees about such matters, but absolute 100% literalism is impossible, because there are at least a few Biblical verses that nobody can accept in pure literal form. The obvious … [Read More...]

Mormon Handcart Pioneers

November 21, 2013 By 1 Comment

One of the most poignant times in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came in the fall of 1856, when two companies of Mormon handcart pioneers became trapped in winter storms and endured roughly two hundred deaths before their rescue and November arrival in Salt Lake … [Read More...]

Blue Crabs and Evangelicals – Part 2

November 20, 2013 By 1 Comment

Aside from getting to feast on some great crab cakes and see a beautifully crafted ballpark, I have had the opportunity to listen to several very good papers while attending the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Baltimore, MD, today. This morning, I was privileged to … [Read More...]

“A New Birth of Freedom”: The Gettysburg Address

November 19, 2013 By 4 Comments

November 19, 2013 marks the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, his most famous speech and one of the most famous in American history. He delivered the speech at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, four months after the conclusion of the Civil War's decisive battle. … [Read More...]

BEYOND CONFLICTS

November 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Very shortly, I will be receiving a real honor, but also one that comes with a major challenge attached. On November 29, I am speaking at a major conference in Assisi, in Italy. The conference, Custodire l’umanità, is ambitious in its goals, discussing the crisis of meaning in the contemporary … [Read More...]

THE EVANGELICAL MELTING POT

November 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Journalist Mira Kamdar had a lovely story in a recent New York Times about the “Other” Paris that tourists rarely see, with its rich tapestry of immigrant peoples. One anecdote in particular: I’ve learned a lot during my long commutes on the metro. One thing is not to underestimate the … [Read More...]

RESTORING PRIMITIVE TRUTH

November 15, 2013 By 3 Comments

For many years I taught a course on Sects, Cults and New Religious Movements. Scholars produce many reasons why new religions should attract particular groups, and offer similar messages, eg the promise of healing. Often these reasons are drawn from psychology or sociology. But the groups … [Read More...]

The Secularization of Christian Holidays

November 14, 2013 By 1 Comment

The Christmas season starts early in Germany as well. Some stores have had their displays out for weeks, and bakeries are already churning out the Stollen and Plätzchen. I'm trying to imagine what December in Germany would be like if American-style jurisprudence reigned. Christmas markets across … [Read More...]

The Cold War Origins of World Vision

November 13, 2013 By 5 Comments

World Vision, known best for its child sponsorship programs, has become the largest and most significant evangelical relief and development agency. The organization’s Wikipedia page vaguely describes its humanitarian origins. Its official website features a similarly vague history, preferring to … [Read More...]

The Supreme Court and Deity-Specific Prayers

November 12, 2013 By 7 Comments

Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Town of Greece v. Galloway, a case concerning the constitutionality of uttering Jesus's name in prayers at public meetings. As I wrote in earlier coverage for WORLD Magazine, the town of Greece (N.Y.) attempted to accommodate pressure from … [Read More...]