My belief is that American evangelical (broadly defined) Christianity’s perception of its relation of the church and state is Kuyperian and it is important therefore to understand Kuyperianism. In a broad sense this Kuyperian tradition focuses on God’s cosmic rule under Christ and that the gospel sets out to redeem the whole of creation, not just individuals. This theme touches on one of N.T. Wright’s common touchpoints that pushes against what he and others perceive to the commonsense evangelicalism. What... Read more

What claims are made in the New Testament when it comes to Adam and Original Sin? Joel B. Green, Provost, Dean of the School of Theology, and Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Fuller Theological Seminary contributed a chapter to the recent book Evolution and the Fall addressing just this question.  Green finds the primary significant passages in Paul (of course) and James. The latter is unusual and gives something of a different emphasis to his discussion than that found... Read more

From Roger Olson: Now, to read a good book on this topic, R. Olson, The Journey of Modern Theology SMcK: I would some additional elements. First, I see progressivism as a kind of eschatology and thus it packages some major elements of liberalism into a theory of progress. Perhaps, second, as important is this: Progressives tend toward centralization of power, both politically and theologically, though the latter is more nuanced than the former. Once Roger posted on this and I posted... Read more

The Truth about Jesus, by Chad Thornhill Talledega Nights gave theology professors everywhere a great gift with Ricky Bobby’s famous “Dear Lord Baby Jesus” prayer. In Smith’s The Magnificent Story, he illustrates from this silly pop culture artifact a real problem: making Jesus what we want him to be. This is a problem for theologians and laity, believers and nonbelievers alike. If we only find in the Gospels what we like of Jesus, we aren’t finding the “real” Jesus. Here... Read more

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen. BCP Read more

A week that draws many of us to prayer, to fasting, to yearning, to striving to make things right. I am wearied by the many who ridicule “prayers and thoughts,” as if prayer doesn’t matter, while seemingly suggesting that action without prayer is what we need. We need both prayer and action, and there’s no reason to ridicule one at the expense of the other. A big thanks/HT to JS and Kris for links this week. Seven things learned too... Read more

Nathan Bomey: Several businesses with ties to the National Rifle Association are breaking up with the group amid mounting pressure from gun-control proponents following the Parkland, Fla. school shooting. Cybersecurity firm Symantec, which offered NRA discounts to its LifeLock identity theft protection service and Norton anti-virus software, told USA TODAY on Friday that it had “stopped its discount program with the National Rifle Association.” First National Bank of Omaha announced Thursday that it would end a Visa credit card that... Read more

From ESPN Players from more than 20 Division I men’s basketball programs have been identified as possibly breaking NCAA rules through violations that were uncovered by the FBI’s investigation into corruption in the sport, according to documents published by Yahoo! Sports. Schools identified by Yahoo! as having players who possibly violated NCAA rules include Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan State, Southern California and Kansas. At least 25 players are linked to impermissible benefits, including Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Alabama‘s Collin Sexton and Duke’s Wendell Carter. The documents obtained by Yahoo! detail the work of... Read more

https://soundcloud.com/user-212639123/race-and-the-kingdom-coversation-with-derwin-gray-rebroadcast-kr-83 Read more

By Mike Glenn Bishop Joseph Walker III is the pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. The African American mega-church is one of the largest in Tennessee, with a membership of over 30,000 people. He is also the Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International. The denomination has over 5,000 churches across America. Needless to say, Bishop Walker is a very busy man. Bishop Walker is also a friend of mine. Our friendship started over... Read more