Can African-Americans Be “Evangelicals?” Recently I discovered that many pollsters taking surveys of adult Americans and who ask questions about people’s religious identities automatically assume, as a matter of governing policy, that African-Americans cannot be “evangelicals.” Furthermore, this trickles down to them from the movers and shakers of American sociology of religion who, generally speaking, categorize American’s religious identities such that “evangelical” cannot include African-Americans. (I discovered that in a major survey of American religious identities survey-takers asked people if... Read more

I Do Not Watch “Sister Wives,” but…What’s Wrong with Polygamy? Let me begin with what should be a wholly unnecessary disclaimer: I am opposed to polygamy, “plural marriage,” “open marriage,” bigamy, etc.! Now that that’s out of the way… Today I read that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case against a state law that criminalizes polygamy. The case has to do with the family featured on the television series “Sister Wives” (which I have never watched).... Read more

Does the Reformation Still Matter? 2017 is the commemorated 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. As I noted here earlier, however, that date—1517—is a bit arbitrary. Somehow, I’m not sure when, who or how, Luther’s nailing of his “95 Theses” to the Cathedral Church door in Wittenberg, Saxony, Germany on October 31 became for Protestants around the world “Reformation Day.” Of course, as any church historian knows, there were already Protestants in Europe—in the theological sense—long before that signal event... Read more

A Day I Cannot Celebrate: Inauguration Day, 2017 Today, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States of America. I have revealed here before my feelings about him and his presidency. I will not be watching any of the inauguration or celebrating it. For me it is a truly frightening turning point in American history and possibly world history. I will turn on my television and leave it on all day on channels not showing... Read more

Who Were the First Protestants? Reflections on the “500th Anniversary” This year—2017—many Protestant Christians around the world will be celebrating what they think is the 500th anniversary of the birth of Protestantism. Many consider October 31 “Reformation Day” and celebrate it as the annual anniversary of the birth of Protestantism because it was on that day in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his “95 Theses” to the cathedral church door in Wittenberg, Saxony. Well, any historian worth her salt knows... Read more

Must Science and Religion Conflict? Please be patient as I clarify the question. (I have learned the hard way, mostly through blogging, that terms mean different things to different people and I cannot assume a universal, let alone uniform, meaning of any word.) Must modern science and Christian theism be viewed as enemies? Now, why the question? It’s really a very old question and has been very much discussed at least since the days of Galileo. Perhaps one pinnacle of... Read more

Is Evangelicalism America’s New “Religious Establishment?” This past weekend I’ve attended and participated in the annual meeting of the American Society of Church Historians. I served on two panels. One was composed of the editors and some authors of a book I reviewed here earlier: The Future of Evangelicalism in America edited by Candy Gunther Brown and Mark Silk (Columbia University Press, 2016). I contributed the chapter “The Emerging Divide in Evangelical Theology.” All the other authors are historians or... Read more

The “Disappearing Middle” in American Political and Religious Life Now, to head off objections—of course I know there still IS a “middle” in American political and religious life. My point here will be that it is not as strong or populated as it once was—during my lifetime. It seems to me, and many of my conversation partners agree, that gradually during the last several decades Americans have become increasingly polarized in their political and religious opinions. This process has ruined... Read more

Must a Christian Forgive Unconditionally? Believe it or not, I have found this to be one of the most controverted subjects among Christian ethicists. Must a Christian forgive unconditionally? Or may he or she hold back forgiveness until there is repentance shown? I have struggled with this question much. Some years ago well-known and highly regarded Christian ethicist Lewis Smedes, author of at least one book about forgiveness, gave lectures at the seminary where I teach. I had the privilege... Read more

Rational Thought (and Persuasive Argument) 101 If there is one thing I have learned from blogging it is that many otherwise intelligent people struggle and fail at thinking rationally. I’m sure I do as well (but hopefully not often). Thinking rationally and sticking to it is difficult; it takes a great deal of effort. Over my many years of interacting with people about ideas I have often heard them refer to something called “Buddhist logic.” They claim that basic rules... Read more