Building Patheos has been the great professional project of my last four years, and I’m a big believer in its purpose and in its future. But it’s pretty astonishing to consider how far we’ve come already — which points, I think, to the great need for a credible, high quality marketplace of religious ideas online. That marketplace, Patheos, now reaches all around the world. Our partners at Avalon Consulting are experts at big data, and they put together a really... Read more
Last week, on the day Fuller Seminary announced its new President, Mark Labberton, we weren’t able to make our schedules match for an interview. On the following day, since the standard announcement-day interviews had already been done (a fine one appeared online at Christianity Today), I tried to make the conversation a little different. Labberton was a pastor to many students from the University of California, Berkeley, then a professor and head of the Ogilvie Institute of Preaching at Fuller... Read more
Editor’s Note: I’m in Miami at the Faith Angle Forum, where today I’m listening to Tim Keller speak on the future of American evangelicalism. I look forward to writing all about it soon. Below is a guest post from my friend Ammon Simon, an attorney focused on constitutional issues with the Judicial Crisis Network. * The DOJ and the Life of Julia By Ammon Simon The Obama Administration’s Department of Justice has been on the frontlines of an assault on... Read more
Recently Mark Tooley posted a piece I entitled “For Evangelicals, the Temptation of Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” in which he criticized a movement amongst evangelical leaders to endorse comprehensive immigration reform, however noble their intentions might be. Matthew Soerens, who focuses on immigration issues for World Relief, posted a response I entitled “Evangelical Support for Immigration Reform is Biblical, Not Political.” Quite a conversation ensued in the comments. Below is Mark Tooley’s response in turn to Soerens: * God, Immigration and... Read more
It was my pleasure this week to interview Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, whose book, The World is Not Ours to Save, is really rocking some boats. Some of my most conservative friends, as well as some of my most progressive friends, have really enjoyed the book, so I was eager to talk with Tyler. Patheos is also featuring an extended discussion on the book here — and you can see the first part of this interview here. To set the stage, Tyler argues that many... Read more
Word is that the new Pope is Cardinal Bergoglio, and the best summary I could find suggests that he straddles the divide between conservatives (he resisted the movement of Jesuits toward liberation theology in Argentina) and liberals (he presses hard for social justice), the developing world (he was born in Buenos Aires and has served in the global south for most of his career) and the developed world (he’s an Italian). Sounds like an eminently reasonable decision to me —... Read more
Many thanks to Matthew Soerens, who specializes on immigration issues for World Relief, for reading the recent guest post from Mark Tooley and offering this response: * Evangelical Support for Immigration Reform is Biblical, Not Political By Matthew Soerens Recently there appeared here at Philosophical Fragments a guest post by Mark Tooley, president of the Institute for Religion and Democracy, critical of evangelical leaders’ advocacy for what he calls “Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” which he suggests is an example of American evangelicalism slinking... Read more
I’ve been fortunate to come to know a lot of extraordinary people. One of them is Ivy Ku, an exceptionally talented doctor (a Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Harvard pedigree isn’t too shabby) who is also an exceptionally committed follower of Jesus. My wife grew up with Ivy, and Ivy and her husband are seeking to love the least of these at the call of Christ. Here is one story from Ivy, reflecting on the challenges of communicating a godly attitude... Read more
At the time I was dating my wife, I was a white guy (still am, in fact) without a whole lot of earning potential. My now-wife was a Chinese-American (still is) with a promising future and another Chinese-American medical student waiting in the wings to be the man in her life and provide material comfort and security. Along comes Tim Dalrymple, head honky, whiter than white, studying philosophy and religion — which is roughly the professional equivalent of self-disembowelment with... Read more
Philosophical Fragments (join our new Facebook account to the right) has become a staging ground for serious evangelical reflection on matters of public policy — thanks to friends engaged in policy discussions who want to share their faith perspective. As always, guest posts do not necessarily reflect my own views. Many thanks to Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy for his thoughts below on Comprehensive Immigration Reform: * For Evangelicals, Reasons to be Cautious on Comprehensive Immigration Reform... Read more
Philosophical Fragments
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