Carolyn Y. Johnson: The “minute clinic” has efficiency built into its name, a quick, easy way for people who feel sick — but not that sick — to seek medical treatment without the hassle of making a doctor’s appointment. Early evidence showed that visits to retail clinics embedded in grocery stores, big box stores and pharmacies cost much less than traditional health care, suggesting they could be a way to cut overall spending. But a new analysis shows that, paradoxically, the rise of the retail clinic has meant... Read more

Roger Olson: However, while I think there is some truth in that regarding some Reformed theologians (clearly in the case of Zwingli, for example), I will not use that argument here. Here is what I will say—much to the chagrin of many Calvinists and Arminians alike: The Bible can be interpreted either way, both ways. I do not accuse Calvinists of “dishonoring the Bible” as I have heard many Calvinists say about Arminians. I can see how Calvinism (except “limited... Read more

In my experience the most influential theories of Christian political thought are those of Abraham Kuyper (with an important American version in Niebuhrianism) and the long tradition of Catholic social thought. Both are theologies of creation; both are comprehensive (though each is not exhaustively complete) in that both the religious life and the more “secular” life are given their due; both care about the poor and both operate on the basis of some kind of capitalism or modified capitalism (from... Read more

Philip Barton Payne, author of Man and Woman, One in Christ, (PhD, Cambridge) has served with his wife Nancy with the Evangelical Free Church Mission in Japan for seven years. He has taught New Testament studies in Cambridge colleges, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Gordon-Conwell, Bethel, and Fuller, and is known for his studies on textual criticism, the parables of Jesus, and Paul’s teachings on women. He blogs at www.pbpayne.com. In Part 1 of my response to Kevin DeYoung’s article, “Our Pro-Woman, Complementarian... Read more

Colby Itkowitz: Jennice Vilhauer, a therapist in Atlanta, says her patients over 15 years share one commonality: They struggle with low self-esteem. Regardless of what life situation brought them to her, it’s at the core of every problem. They fixate on what they perceive as their unfavorable traits and the false narrative seeps into every aspect of their lives. It’s an actual bias in their brains that bypasses the positive and highlights the negative. “Once you train your bias, it... Read more

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. BCP Read more

Valerie Hobbs reviewing Ruth Tucker’s new book: Black and White Bible, Black and Blue Wife is a difficult read, and it is an essential read for every Christian who is grounded in these issues. Whatever conclusions one reaches about Tucker’s egalitarian theology of marriage, her story and her questions urge us to strive for greater understanding of Scripture, remembering the people at the heart of the issues about which we debate endlessly. As we work out our faith with fear... Read more

Look what Kris just found: The auditorium is a concrete dome that was poured in one day. At the dome’s center-point is a large blue stained glass skylight. The unique design also includes a 14-foot-tall wooden cross that has stood in the building since its construction. It was hewn from a tree believed to be upwards of 4,000 years old, and as stated in a booklet about the church, “Abraham walked the earth when this tree was thrusting its first... Read more

Church Navigating Through the Waters of Christendom: St. Ambrose of Milan, by Allan Bevere In the anthology God, Truth, and Witness, church historian Robert Wilkens argues that Constantinianism was not a program engineered from the halls of power, but rather it was a grass roots movement from the people of the Roman Empire. In making his case, he gives an account of the episcopacy of Ambrose of Milan, who lived a generation after the death of Constantine I. He contrasts Ambrose’s episcopacy... Read more