The Next Generation of Complementarianism: A Response to Mike Winger

Last updated on: December 19, 2022 at 11:44 pm By Beth Allison Barr

I only recently learned about Mike Winger. A friend alerted me that he had posted a not-so-flattering discussion of The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth. I wasn’t terribly surprised by this since Winger earned a ministry degree from Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, an extension campus of Calvary Chapel Bible College which states in its doctrinal statement that men and women were created to “complement and complete each other.” Indeed, the Bible college is part of the Calvary Global... Read more

A Panopticon for a Ruling Class in the Digital Wilderness

Last updated on: December 3, 2022 at 6:41 pm By Joey Cochran

This past Monday John Fea’s (21K f.; Messiah University Professor; author of Believe Me; past CFH President) Current, a digital journal, published an essay entitled “Forum: The New Shape of Christian Public Discourse” from historian, Jay Green, past CFH President, who currently teaches at Covenant College. Green’s essay proposes a grid for analyzing the landscape of Christian public discourse by plotting the goals of discourse on an x-axis and the means of discourse along a y-axis. Green plots the goal... Read more

Why the Pope is Dangerously Wrong About Russia and Ukraine

Last updated on: November 30, 2022 at 12:26 pm By Philip Jenkins

Pope Francis has recently issued statements about the Ukraine war that are so mind-bogglingly at variance with reality as to raise alarming questions about him, and by extension, about anything in his record in that office. Why, in short, is he repeatedly recycling Kremlin talking points? I do have a couple of theories to explain his behavior, but none is too complimentary. Francis has in the past said some extremely silly things about the war currently raging in Ukraine. Last... Read more

Can Pluralism Work in Christian Higher Education?

Last updated on: November 30, 2022 at 2:32 am By Andrea L. Turpin

Last month I asked whether pluralism can work in American higher education. What are the possibilities? What are the potential pitfalls? Today I want to ask what might be an even more intriguing question: Can pluralism work in Christian higher education? What would that even mean? To explore these questions, I’m thinking in conversation with George Marsden’s excellent Soul of the American University Revisited: From Protestant to Postsecular. As I explored last time, in his updated 2021 edition of his... Read more

Recovering Liberal Democratic Norms in Christian Politics: An Interview with Jay Green

Last updated on: November 28, 2022 at 4:24 pm By Daniel K. Williams

I have becoming increasingly convinced that the preservation of a functioning democracy in which human rights are respected and civil discourse across the political spectrum is encouraged should be one of the most important priorities for American evangelical Christians. Yet too often, evangelical Christians are divided themselves about the value of civil discourse and democratic norms, with some openly rejecting these virtues. I’ve written elsewhere about why American evangelicals should care about the health of our democracy, but I was... Read more

The Christmas Movie We Need Right Now

Last updated on: November 29, 2022 at 12:20 am By Melissa Borja

Now that Thanksgiving is past and the holiday season has officially begun, I’m ready for my favorite Christmas tradition: watching holiday movies. I admit that I have something of a small addiction. I love the classics, of course—It’s a Wonderful Life, Love Actually, Die Hard. I enjoy the new shows, too, especially if they have diverse characters (Dash and Lily, Happiest Season) or involve royalty falling in love in generic European countries with lots of snow (the Christmas Prince... Read more

Advent, and the End Times

Last updated on: November 23, 2022 at 7:01 am By Philip Jenkins

The season of Advent begins this year next Sunday, November 27. This is one of my favorite times in the church year, and for many reasons, I relish the “O Antiphons,” which belong precisely to this season. They are so rich in the lessons they teach, with implications for Christmas, of course, but also for the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, and (surprisingly perhaps) for the apocalypse and the Last Judgment. You could actually present a fairly complete... Read more

Ron Sider and the Fate of the Evangelical Left

Last updated on: November 23, 2022 at 8:45 am By David Swartz

My third--and final--post on the legacy of Ron Sider Read more

Words that Matter: An Excerpt from The Pastoral Care of Women in Late Medieval England

Last updated on: November 22, 2022 at 2:10 am By Beth Allison Barr

My past caught up with me last week. I stood on the West Campus of Duke University for the first time in more than nineteen years. A school group was visiting, their tour buses parked in the road circling past the gothic tower of the university chapel. I didn’t want to become part of the background for dozens of selfie pictures, so rather than join the crowd on the lawn, I sat on a bench–eating my breakfast bagel from the... Read more