Evangelicalism: A Closed Club? Not Always Fair Based on my extensive and deep involvement with the American Evangelical Movement (AEM) over fifty years, I will dare to say that it was a closed club. At least there were (and still are) people who want to make it a bounded set, as opposed to a centered set, and serve as its gatekeepers. And they were and are not always fair in carrying that out. In fact, at times, with regard to... Read more

Clark Pinnock was a leading evangelical theologian who died in 2010. I followed his career, learned from him through his books and articles, and finally got to know him personally in the 1990s. When I first read him he was a strong inerrantist and Calvinist. But he was a good writer and apologist for the Christian faith. Yesterday I read a book manuscript that mentioned that Clark departed from strict inerrancy. It didn’t mention his change from Calvinism to Arminianism.... Read more

Here I continue my series, recently begun, of telling my memories and secrets of the American Evangelical Movement that began with the founding of the National Association of Evangelicals in the 1940s. These are my own memories and secrets I have kept. When I was in seminary I encountered many what I would now call “progressive evangelical” thinkers, both in person and in their writings. They weren’t all considered “progressive” then, but later they would be so labeled by conservative/fundamentalist... Read more

Here I begin a series telling my memories of American evangelicalism and what happened in it and to it. Here I am and will be talking about the Evangelical Movement that was born in the early 1940s with the founding of the National Association of Evangelicals and given impetus in the 1950s by the founding of the magazine Christianity Today. I was brought up in that movement. And worked within it as long as it lasted. I have studied the... Read more

I recently here discussed a book by Gary Agee entitled That We May Be One: Practicing Unity in a Divided Church. I agree with Gary’s call for as much unity among Christians as possible. However, I also agree with Martin Luther who said “Peace if possible, but truth at any cost.” I will paraphrase that as “Unity if possible, but truth at any cost.” Throughout my life I have been torn between unity and disunity among Christians. As a teenager... Read more

First, it is important to define terms. By “Christian theology” here I mean the discipline that explores and explains Christian beliefs in a scholarly way—using critical thinking while acknowledging Christian sources as the material of the discipline. Those Christian sources are traditionally recognized as the Christian scriptures (Bible), Christian tradition, and contemporary culture. These traditionally exist in a hierarchy in terms of authority, but various Christian theologians express them and use them in differing ways. By “post-theological church world” I... Read more

*What follows is opinion and not meant to impugn anyone’s character* Does Trump think he is Jesus? Well, probably not. But does he think he is a Christ-figure? Probably so. Anyway, that is the impression given by the AI-generated picture he posted on his social media account. In the picture Trump is depicted in Christ-like attire (white and red robe) reaching down and touching the forehead of an ill person with the effect of healing him. The image is one... Read more

The Almost Completely Unknown Difference that Makes All the Difference (between Christians and Culture and between Christians and Christians) We talk endlessly about differences among Christians: Catholic versus Protestant, Calvinist versus Arminian, liberal versus conservative, neo-fundamentalist versus postconservative, premillennial versus amillennial, pedobaptist versus credobaptist—to name just a few of our favorite divisions. But over the past few years I have become convinced there’s one deeper difference that is largely unrecognized and runs deeper than all those others. Yet, to the... Read more

A story: The other day I needed some cash. So I went to the bank but the ATM was down. So I stood in line at the teller window. When I reached the front of the line and looked at the teller I told him I wanted some cash. I put my debit card in the little machine and gave him my id. He asked me “What amount?” I answered “one hundred dollars.” He said “What denominations?” I responded very... Read more