Religious States, Unhappy States

Last updated on: February 16, 2013 at 4:54 am By Scot McKnight

Well, it’s not quite that simple, but Laura Gottesdiener’s report connects religion, State and anti-depressants: A study released yesterday confirmed that Mississippi remains the most religious state in the Union, followed by a handful of its southern belt brothers: Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, as well as the Mormon stronghold of Utah. The Gallup poll showed that 58 percent of all Mississippians identify as “very religious.” The least religious states in the U.S. are the former stomping grounds of the very,very religious Puritans:... Read more

First Sunday of Lent

Last updated on: January 30, 2013 at 6:53 am By Scot McKnight

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Read more

Cedarville, The Next Episode

Last updated on: February 16, 2013 at 3:32 pm By Scot McKnight

It appears to this interested outsider that professors and administrators are pawns on a chess board eliminated by surging faculty and board culture wars. Very sad. It’s not often that a college’s chief disciplinarian inspires such love. But Carl Ruby, who last month resigned asvice president for student life at this little-known Christian college, has become a symbol of some very public trials, as faculty, students and trustees at Cedarville try to figure out what kind of Christians they are. Are... Read more

Pastor Beards

Last updated on: February 16, 2013 at 6:32 am By Scot McKnight

How to Elect a Pope

Last updated on: February 16, 2013 at 6:36 am By Scot McKnight

Weekly Meanderings, February 16, 2013

Last updated on: February 15, 2013 at 10:23 am By Scot McKnight

Lisa Sharon Harper: “On Saturday, Feb. 9, the world received the news that our dear brother, Dr. Richard Leo Twiss, Lakota, co-founder and President of Wiconi International, had passed from life to life. The news was devastating, but, for the circle of family and friends that held vigil in his hospital room over three days, it felt like God had prepared us. On the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 6, Richard collapsed from a massive heart attack while attending activities surrounding the... Read more

Tubby Smith — Danceshaking

Last updated on: February 15, 2013 at 10:21 am By Scot McKnight

Tubby Smith, relentless coach that he is to make his teams better on D, lets loose with some danceshaking. One suspects Tubby might now become the darling of college students: Read more

David Fitch and Tim Keller

Last updated on: February 14, 2013 at 7:07 am By Scot McKnight

My colleague and friend, David Fitch, posts a first in a series review of Tim Keller’s book on the church. Here are the critical paragraphs: Yet two questions emerge for me from Keller’s reading of the gospel and church. 1.) Is this really contextualizing the gospel? Or is it interpreting/translating all of life experience through a singular understanding of the gospel learned in the German [sic, Swiss] Reformation? And 2.) Should the gospel be the center of the church or... Read more

Oscar Pistorius

Last updated on: February 15, 2013 at 10:24 am By Scot McKnight

Maybe the most astute comment I’ve read on the sad story about Oscar Pistorius, by Bruce Arthur: So when an ex-girlfriend, Samantha Taylor, told a South African paper last year that “Oscar is certainly not what people think he is” — before her lawyer delivered a letter saying she withdrew everything she said — should that have been part of his story? Can everything be part of a story? No, it cannot. Sports reveal character, but we can’t truly know... Read more

Relationships Have Changed

Last updated on: February 15, 2013 at 10:03 am By Scot McKnight

This old piece from Esquire magazine from 1949 shows how much has changed. This can go in several directions for conversation, but what this illustrates at least is that perceptions of the attractiveness etc change over time. One wonders what will happen to what we think is attractive today… the same… in a generation it may make us gasp. What is even more significant is that the rise of a greater equality turns all of this into a new kind... Read more

Which prophet spoke of a 'new covenant' in the Old Testament?