by Pastor Jason MikelSpecial to R3 I’ve never cried over a pair of socks. I’ve never even seen someone cry over a pair of socks. That all changed on Monday night though when a woman named Vicky showed up in an East Nashville parking lot for burritos. I didn’t quite know what to say when she looked up at me with big tears in the corners of her eyes. I’d just asked her if she needed a pair of socks because... Read more

Memphis Theological Seminary invites applications for a tenure track position in Evangelism and Mission to begin fall, 2014.   Rank open. Responsibilities include teaching introductory and elective courses in our MA, MDiv and DMin programs. An ability to teach from a global perspective is welcomed. Qualifications include a PhD in the field and commitment to diversity, collegiality, and the life of the church. We invite applications from all qualified candidates, especially those from traditionally under-represented populations. Send letter of application,... Read more

Last month, Molly Worthen traveled to the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics to take part in a symposium for the inaugural Danforth Distinguished Lecture series at Washington University in St. Louis. During her stay, she sat down with Managing Editor Tiffany Stanley to discuss her latest book, Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism, published in November by Oxford University Press. The book charts the intellectual history of modern American evangelicalism, chronicling the movement’s... Read more

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by Andre E. Johnson R3 Editor Click here for the other installments of this series I was looking forward to attending the National Communication Association (NCA) conference this year in Washington, DC. Truthfully, I look forward to the conference every year because it is my chance to see so many of my friends that I only get to see at conference time. I also like to attend the panels and hear exciting and thought provoking research that lead to the... Read more

What are we to do when the spiritual leaders we expect to give us life take their own?  I have been pondering this question, among many others, in the wake of national media reports about the suicide of 42-year old Teddy Parker Jr., pastor of Bibb Mount Zion Baptist Church, in Macon, Georgia.  According to reports, Rev. Parker sent his wife and children to their church ahead of him on Sunday, November 10th. After Parker failed to appear at the church where he... Read more

On a Veteran’s Day broadcast, two of America’s most influential televangelists claimed that good Christians can’t get PTSD. Kenneth Copeland, who is famous for  pitching a fit when a senator tried to investigate his nonprofits and for inspiring a measles outbreak, said, “Any of you suffering from PTSD right now, you listen to me. You get rid of that right now. You don’t take drugs to get rid of it, it doesn’t take psychology; that promise right there [in the Bible] will get rid... Read more

The XVII Conference of Latin American Religious Alternatives is being held this week in Porto Alegre, Brazil. This event will bring together scholars and researchers from across the continent to talk together about religion, integration, and identity. I will be presenting three papers, all about Islamic feminism. I am pleased to have such a space to discuss new ways of understanding the phenomenon of religion in Latin America and the role of feminism in Latin American religion.  I want to... Read more

Whenever I write something critical of the relatively recent dogma of “biblical inerrancy,” someone always responds by insisting that Christians have been reading the Bible this way for 2,000 years. That’s not true. It’s not possible. Christians haven’t been reading the Bible this way for 2,000 years, because for most of the last 2,000 years, most Christians weren’t reading the Bible at all. For the first of those 20 centuries, Christians weren’t reading the New Testament because it was still... Read more

Yesterday, as I was writing articles in preparation for my upcoming book, I saw a flurry of messages via social media in regards to a panel discussion on Christian Hip-Hop by the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches. At first I paid no attention to the panel, but as a few tweets turned into a barrage I could not resist it any longer. After I listened to the panel, my heart immediately turned to anger and hurt. I was so enraged that... Read more