An Invitation to Discuss Malestrom by Carolyn Custis James Either serendipity or providence. Just a few weeks ago I was on a panel discussing Christ and Gender with Ben Witherington and Carolyn Custis James at the MissioAlliance gathering in Alexandria, Virginia. It’s an explosive issue; whatever a person says will inevitably spark some strong disagreement, if not harsh criticism, from someone else. But we were all civil to each other and found common ground and raised a lot of questions.... Read more

This is a request for your help identifying relatively new Christian denominations in the U.S. It’s for a project I’m beginning to undertake. I will explain more about that project later. (I’ve had a special interest in denominations for many years and have served as a consultant to the last two editions of the Handbook of Denominations published every few years by Abingdon Press.) Here are the guidelines. Please only report to me here denominations 1) founded in the last... Read more

Recommendation of an Old but Good Book about the Human Condition (A Follow Up to the Previous Post about Christian Ignorance and Anti-Inellectualism) Do you like to read serious but understandable Christian theology? Are you interested in creative and insightful, biblically-based, serious investigations of biblical themes correlated with contemporary cultural questions and issues? Are you not biased against “old school” thinking but actually believe a past Christian thinker might have something valuable to offer? Although it is now long out... Read more

Whatever Happened to the Christian Mind? Yes, I know, this has been asked before—numerous times and by many Christian philosophers and theologians. A relatively recent classic on the subject is Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Eerdmans, 1994). Francis Schaeffer, especially in his early works, decried Christian anti-intellectualism. Recently a friend sent me this statement by A. W. Tozer, an evangelical preacher and writer of a previous generation (than mine or my parents): “There is, unfortunately, a feeling... Read more

True Christian Ecumenism: Reconciled Diversity Some Christian theologians I know believe the existence of separate Christian denominations is scandalous. H. Richard Niebuhr very strongly promoted that belief in his classic book The Social Sources of Denominationalism (1929). For much of the twentieth century especially so-called “mainline” Protestants talked endlessly about “visible and institutional unity” of the churches. Some went so far as to call for Protestants to re-join the Catholic Church if and when (they were optimists) the pope admits... Read more

Horizontal and Vertical Churches: Where’s the Balance? I visit a lot of churches. During my adult lifetime I have attended (more than one or two times) numerous churches of many denominations. And I read about churches. “Church life” is one of my strongest interests. (I served as consultant for two editions of Abingdon’s Handbook of Denominations and I will be giving lectures about denominationalism at a Christian college in November.) I have spoken at churches as diverse as Episcopal and... Read more

Why I Won’t Read Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee I recently read a commentary by a newspaper editor suggesting that both To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman be chosen as “books of the year” for an annual city-wide reading project. (Each year the city chooses one book and encourages people to read it and meet to discuss it.) I was dismayed by the suggestion. And I had already decided not to read Go Set a... Read more

Follow Up to Musings about Whether the Past Can Be Changed The immediately preceding post raised the question whether the past can be changed—even by God (July 24, 2015). Therein I asked specifically whether a prayer can influence the past and, if so, why Christians generally don’t pray for God to change the past and why there are no biblical examples of such. Many people responded that a prayer prayed today can be taken into account by God, in his... Read more

Can the Past Be Changed (Even By God)? Some Musings about Time Recently I’ve been listening (on my ipod, as I exercise and drive) to Stephen King’s excellent novel “11-22-63.” I don’t really like King’s horror novels, but I have enjoyed listening to some of his books—especially murder mysteries (The Mercedes Man and Finders Keepers). 11-22-63 intrigued me when I read about it. I have always been fascinated by the assassination of President Kennedy. I remember where I was when... Read more

How a Theologian’s Insight about Symbols Relates to the Present Kerfuffle about the Confederate Flag For those of you not living in the United States I’ll briefly summarize a contemporary controversy stirring deep emotions especially in the Southern states. A few weeks ago an emotionally disturbed young man with racist beliefs allegedly entered an African-American church in South Carolina and shot and killed a number of worshipers. Afterwards it was discovered that the accused young man used the main Confederate... Read more