Crossing a Threshold: Affirming Choice in Public Education After many years of increasingly uncomfortable affirmation of public schools as parents’ only option—without paying tuition in addition to taxes—I have arrived at a different position. I now believe governments should provide parents with “vouchers” (a metaphor) for payment of accredited private school education for their children. In other words, I believe parents should not have to pay both public school taxes and private school tuition in order to provide the best... Read more

Should America Have Attacked Syria? A Christian Response According to news reports, U.S. President Donald Trump virtually unilaterally (i.e., without Congressional approval) ordered the U.S. military to attack and destroy a Syrian air base that was allegedly used by Syria to kill its own people with deadly chemical (gas) weapons banned by international agreements. The news is trickling out—in print and by broadcasts—and more information is needed. So, here I will only respond based on the limited information that seems... Read more

The Problem of “Echo Chambers” A problem with contemporary American society is that most people tend only to listen to people with whom they already agree. The result is almost complete ignorance of the perspectives of others. The result is a society that is no longer a community; we have no shared values. An example is the abortion debate. The tendency is for pro-choice people to listen only to their own spokespersons, leaders, for example, of Planned Parenthood. The tendency... Read more

Would Someone Please Rein in Some of the “Young Calvinists?” For those of you who do not know, I have been involved in a controversy with the American neo-Calvinists (“Young, Restless, Reformed”)—especially their leaders—for many years. While I respect their passion for the glory of God, I have criticized them on for two errors: 1) A rampant, almost endemic (to the movement) arrogance about Calvinism, and 2) A frequent tendency to misrepresent alternative views. Even some Reformed theologians have addressed... Read more

What Should Contemporary Evangelical Christians Think about the Reformation? *Preamble: My April 2017 copy of Christianity Today just arrived. In it you will find (as I do) a two part article (or series of two articles) about Catholic and Protestant theologies. The article(s) is on pp. 42-46 (print copy) and is entitled “Grace First or Grace Alone: What Catholics and Protestants Now Agree On—and What Still Divides Us.” The Catholic article is by Bishop Robert Barron and the Protestant response... Read more

Whatever Happened to “Friendship with Jesus” in American Evangelical Piety and Worship? You know you’re getting old when the old songs start popping into your mind—songs that made a major impression on you as a child and young person and that you don’t hear anymore. Now, at my age, a radio “oldies station” plays 1980s music. 1980s music “oldies?” C’mon. Well, okay, I just have to get used to the idea of being “old school.” Bear with me. I have... Read more

Statement of Confession and Commitment   The following “Statement of Confession and Commitment” is going around via various blogs. Faculty members at Christian colleges, universities and seminaries are being invited to sign it. I have signed it. If you want to sign it (and are such a faculty member) or if you just want to see the list of signers, “Google” it. I am not providing a link here because I assume the authors and those circulating it wish to... Read more

Thoughts about Church and Holy Spirit (by a Self-Identified “Bapticostal”) My class has been reading Swiss theologian Emil Brunner’s chapters about the Holy Spirit and the church; here are some thoughts I sent my students after a rather vigorous and free-wheeling discussion of Brunner’s ideas: Apparently, for Brunner, what he calls the “Ekklesia”–the primitive Christian church of the New Testament–no longer exists as it was then and cannot exist as it was then because of historical and cultural changes. Still,... Read more

My Review of the Television Drama Series “Madam Secretary” I watch only a few television series regularly. Most are, in my opinion, a total waste of time. Television is, in my opinion, by-and-large, what one television critic called “a vast wasteland” (Newton Minow, 1961) With more viewing options has come very little real improvement. I have a very low opinion of television programming in general and yet I feel the need to watch select shows to keep up with popular... Read more

  Dear blog friends: Below you will find my review of the movie “The Shack” preceded by a “viewer guide” to the movie. I wrote these for InterVarsity Press which published my book “Finding God in ‘The Shack'” in 2009. This viewer guide and review was first posted on their web site together with the information about my book. May I just say that I am very disappointed in some evangelical Christians’ responses to both the book and the movie;... Read more