If the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW) is a thing, is it possible that it has a theological equivalent? For those who haven’t heard of IDW, here‘s a brief overview: Bari Weiss, an opinion writer and editor at the New York Times, created a stir this week with a long article on a group that calls itself the “Intellectual Dark Web.” The coinage referred to a loose collective of intellectuals and media personalities who believe they are “locked out” of mainstream... Read more
With the release of Pope Francis‘ letter in support of the victims of sexual abuse and increasing acknowledgment by thoughtful Roman Catholics of the Crisis of Infidelity that recent revelations have created, is it a bad time to ask why Roman Catholics who are disillusioned with their priests and bishops don’t consider joining a Protestant church? I understand that Orthodox Presbyterianism, my own communion, has lots of foibles that put seekers off — starting with Calvinism. But why not Lutheranism?... Read more
The release of a new book (by me) on the value of the Protestant Reformation may look well timed given the current spate of scandals (once again) in the Roman Catholic Church. Some Protestants are watching the laments about scandalous priest (and cardinals) and the efforts of bishops to cover up those sins and wondering what church history course these complainants took as undergrads. The Roman Catholic Church has a long history of bishops who abused their power. This was... Read more
For some reason, I had occasion recently to come back to a piece on the 2008 presidential election by David D. Kirkpatrick for the New York Times Magazine (Oct. 28, 2007). It was called “The Evangelical Crackup.” Here are a few poignant observations from eleven years ago: The generational and theological shifts in the evangelical world are turning the next election into a credibility test for the conservative Christian establishment. The current Republican front-runner in national polls, Rudolph W. Giuliani,... Read more
Another odd aspect of President Obama’s speech in South Africa was his conflicting rhetoric about recent history and the accomplishments of liberal societies. On the one hand, it is the best of times: One hundred years ago. . . . South Africa was then less than a decade removed from full British control. Already, laws were being codified to implement racial segregation and subjugation, the network of laws that would be known as apartheid. Most of Africa, including my father’s... Read more
A few weeks ago, President Obama spoke in South Africa and made a surprising admission: … right now I’m actually surprised by how much money I got, and let me tell you something: I don’t have half as much as most of these folks or a tenth or a hundredth. There’s only so much you can eat. There’s only so big a house you can have. There’s only so many nice trips you can take. I mean, it’s enough. You... Read more
If you are an evangelical, all that is required is being born-again, having that come-to-Jesus moment. That’s one of the reasons why polling data puts evangelicals as anywhere between 15 and 30 percent of the U.S. population. The downside of experiential Christianity (as opposed to ecclesiatical, sacramental, or dogmatic) is that no one is in the home office to give you a membership card — because there is no home office. Being an evangelical is all spiritual. Yes it seeps... Read more
The missus and I just finished another very good Netflix documentary, Wild Wild Country, about the Bhagwan Rajneesh and his followers attempt during the first Reagan administration (the early 1980s) to establish a commune in the high desert of Oregon. Here’s one brief description of the series: Directed by Chapman Way and Maclain Way, Wild Wild Country is the 6 part documentary TV series on Netflix that tells the story of Bhagwan Rajneesh (also known as Osho, and Rajneesh), a... Read more
What if the evangelicals who voted for Donald Trump are something other than simply being born-again? Can they be reduced to their conversion experience? What if their identity, contrary to identity politics, includes other attributes, like sex, place of residence, work, family status, education, and favorite sports team What if, for the sake of voting behavior, they belong to political traditions in U.S. history that explain their party affiliation and choices better than David Bebbington’s quadrilateral? What if, in fact,... Read more
A common refrain in evangelical higher education for the last thirty years has been that Christians pursue academic work from the perspective of faith or belief and that by virtue of that insight they produce scholarship that is different from a secular or unbelieving scholar. Whether the insights that Christian scholars possess stem from regeneration, theological training, or biblical knowledge is seldom addressed by those who champion the cause of faith-informed scholarship. One way of illustrating this point is to... Read more
Putting the Protest in Protestant
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