Denomination of the Week: Brethren in Christ Church Quiz question: In what small Anabaptist denomination was President Dwight Eisenhower raised? Answer: the Brethren in Christ Church. Although I will deviate from this sometimes, I prefer here to highlight as “denominations of the week” groups with which I have had some “close encounter.” Earlier this year (2015) I was invited to speak at Messiah College. The event, held on that campus, was the annual Study Conference hosted by the Sider Institute... Read more

What Was All That Fuss About? A Late Review of Wild at Heart by John Eldredge Over the years of this blog several commenters have asked my opinion about the book Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul (Thomas Nelson, 2001) by John Eldredge. They asked because of my interest in the “decline of men” and the “wounded male psyche.” Recently here I interacted with the book Malestrom: Manhood Swept into the Currents of a Changing World... Read more

Some Thoughts about Islam and the Current Controversy in U.S. Politics What does it even mean to suggest that “Muslims” not be allowed to immigrate to the United States (or anywhere)? First, one has to have some relatively clear idea of what a “Muslim” is. And that requires some understanding of “Islam.” When I was a doctoral student in Religious Studies at Rice University in the 1970s Islam was controversial. The news was filled with reports of “radical Islam” rising in the... Read more

Denomination of the Week: Grace Communion International (GCI) With this post I begin a new series; I hope to post one like it each week. Each post will highlight an American denomination. (This is, of course, related to my work as reviser/editor of the Handbook of Denominations in the United States beginning with the 14th edition.) The purpose of this series is not so much to express my opinions (although I will sometimes do that as here) but to educate people... Read more

Miscellaneous Footnotes to Earlier Posts: Feminism, Racism, and Prayer I don’t care to devote entire posts to these topics because they are basically footnotes to earlier posts on these subjects. First, a couple months ago I decried the “exoneration” of the Cleveland, Ohio policeman who shot twelve year old Tamir Rice. The video is there for everyone to see. I have seen it several times myself. I don’t see how anyone can view it and not be sickened. A child... Read more

Below you will see the Table of Contents of the Handbook of Denominations 13th edition and alphabetical listing of denominations included. I have omitted from the TOC groupings of denominations (mostly non-Christian) that will be omitted from the 14th edition. I have not done that with the alphabetical list; it here includes non-Christian denominations. The 14th edition, which I will edit and revise, will only include denominations rooted in Christianity (without using any standard of orthodoxy). These are being posted here with... Read more

A New Research Project: Editing/Revising the Handbook of Denominations in the United States Many years ago I began collecting and reading editions of Abingdon Press’s Handbook of Denominations in the United States edited then by Frank S. Mead. I think the first edition I perused, probably in my father’s library, was the 1965 New Fourth Edition. Since then Abingdon has published eight new editions edited in succession by Mead, Samuel Hill, and Craig Atwood. The most recent edition is the... Read more

And then Again…Clarifications about “Christian Reconstructionism” and the “Prosperity Gospel” This is a footnote or addendum to yesterday’s post entitled “A Call for American Evangelical Leaders to Confront Evangelicalism’s Lunatic Fringe” (December 3, 2015). Whenever I mention a movement or type critically someone responds—either by direct, personal e-mail or here, in a posted comment,—accusing me of being “uncharitable.” Often they mean—to them or their organization. Sometimes they just think being critical is uncharitable. Yesterday, after that critical call for evangelical... Read more

A Call for American Evangelical Leaders to Confront Evangelicalism’s Lunatic Fringe Every religious movement that grows sufficiently large has a lunatic fringe; extremists attach themselves to religious (and other) movements to gain respectability and a “voice”—to influence the movement and others through it. Then, inevitably, critics of the movement accuse it of fostering lunatics and identify the latter with the center of the movement itself. This is self-evident to anyone who studies religious (and other) movements. It’s relatively easy to... Read more

An Extended Footnote/Addendum to My Review of Oord’s The Uncontrolling Love of God… In that review, posted here on November 28, 2015, I mentioned an evangelical Wesleyan philosopher who, I believe, settled the “problem” of God and gratuitous evil within a frame of reference of free will theism (belief in libertarian freedom). I suggested that had Oord read Evil and the Christian God (Baker, 1982) by Michael Peterson perhaps his strong objections to belief in a good God who permits... Read more