My book Crucible of Faith recently received an extremely positive and generous review, and I want to argue strenuously against it. Well, not exactly, but here is what happened. In the British Catholic Herald, Michel Duggan gave the book just an excellent review, but he made one point that troubled me – not troubled that the reviewer was making the point, but because it raised an issue I really should have addressed more explicitly. My book described the emergence of... Read more
In several past blogs, I have commented on the extreme difficulty of reading the New Testament in English translation, where you miss a lot of the connections, echoes, and resonances that would strike a Greek speaker. The same is true of Hebrew in the Old Testament, where reading in even the best translation means missing a great many puns and word-plays, but that’s a separate subject. Here I want to focus on one particular Greek word that points to a... Read more
For me, as for many evangelicals, Billy Graham’s death is personal. In 1988, Billy Graham came to my hometown of Rochester, New York. I was a fourteen-year-old Christian. Two years before Graham’s visit, I had come forward to dedicate my life to Jesus Christ at a church revival. I was active in Young Life. By active, I mean that I encouraged my high school classmates to come to weekly YL meetings and come to the summer camps at which they... Read more
How black fundamentalists responded to Moody Bible Institute's accommodation to racial segregation Read more
Billy Graham was a Christian college student, president, trustee, and benefactor. What's his legacy for Christian higher ed, and evangelical intellectual life more generally? Read more
The recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida reminds us once again about the dispiriting frequency of these tragedies. So many have happened that it is often hard to remember them individually. With this in mind, I re-post a reflection I wrote after the December, 14, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 20 children and six adults. I wrote it in January 2013 near the Feast of Holy Innocents. Herewith: The senseless tragedy in Newtown,... Read more
So much has been written over the past few days about Billy Graham, who really does fit the description of a world-historical figure. I want here to address one sidelight on his work that I came across in research I did some years back on the Cold War era in the US. Although it certainly does not diminish his achievement, I want to stress how absolutely his ministry in the 1950s was rooted in the apocalyptic mindset of the peak... Read more
I remember the day a couple years back when my Facebook feed was suddenly overtaken with grief. Kate Bowler, the preeminent historian of the prosperity gospel, but more importantly beloved friend to so many in my circle of religious historians, had been diagnosed with stage IV cancer. As she broke the news to all her “dears,” with characteristic grace and wit, the sorrow was palpable. At that time I hadn’t yet met Kate, but for at least a couple of... Read more
I got back from lunch just now and found about four times the normal number of links on my Feedly reader. Which is what happens when you’re interested in evangelicalism and Billy Graham dies, at the age of 99. So, knowing that there’s no shortage of commentary on this particular passing — and that at least one or two of us will write more in the days to come — let me share just a few of the many Anxious Bench posts... Read more
On August 4, 2009, John Piper, chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, former pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, and the well-known author of more than 50 books including his co-authored Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, answered this question on his podcast Desiring God: “Why don’t women ever read or pray in Bethlehem’s church services?” John Piper’s answer was very short. Reading scripture and offering congregational prayers is part of pastoral responsibility. Because the female sex, according to Piper, is disqualified... Read more
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