Dreaming of the Ideal “Mission Trip” For those of you who don’t know what a “mission trip” is: Many churches of all denominations send their people, usually young people (but not always), on “mission trips” to work and witness in a different culture from their own. Often (but not always) such one-to-two-week excursions aim at a place far from home perceived to be “needy” in some sense. The church people go in vans, for example, pulling trailers loaded down with... Read more

Tempest surrounding Bathrooms: Gender Controversy du Jour Again, I fearlessly (not) go where angels fear to tread—out on a (possibly breaking) limb, onto thin ice, into a social-cultural minefield. But I think I may have some thoughts (or just musings) on the subject worth putting down on “paper” and asking others to consider. According to news reports the North Carolina legislature has passed a law requiring persons to use the public bathroom/restroom/locker room/changing room that corresponds with the sex on... Read more

On the Mystery and Meaning of Perspectives The title of this little blog post could be the title of a book! And perhaps someone has written it. I haven’t—yet. These are merely my musings about the subject sparked by a recent series of essays and letters about a television program. I live in the American city where a very popular television program produced by the cable channel HGTV (Home and Garden Television) is filmed and produced. The show is called... Read more

What Is Christian “Fundamentalism” and Who Is a Christian “Fundamentalist?” I’ll begin with a series of criteria for identifying fundamentalism (or someone as a fundamentalist). Then I’ll go on to give historical-theological justification for the criteria. Readers who are not interested in the (admittedly rather lengthy and detailed) historical-theological justification can stop reading whenever they wish. (However, I warn them that if they comment on my criteria critically I will probably tell them to go back and read the historical-theological... Read more

Deconstructing “Evangelicalism” Recently I had the privilege of hearing George Marsden speak. Marsden is widely considered the “dean” of evangelical historians. That is, he practically pioneered and led in the study of the history of the evangelical movement. He taught at Calvin College, Duke Divinity School and retired from the University of Notre Dame (where Mark Noll succeeded him). Marsden helped many of us, in our callow years as budding evangelical scholars, distinguish between “evangelicalism” and “fundamentalism.” The lecture I... Read more

Why Can’t We Just Call Ourselves “Christians?” Whenever I ask my students, most of them in their twenties, what they think of the label “evangelical”—which I still wear but with some embarrassment—many of them say “Why can’t we just call ourselves ‘Christians’?” This seems to be the consensus among non-fundamentalist, relatively conservative, youngish Americans: “Let’s do away with all labels except ‘Christian’.” That’s so attractive to me, too. I wish it could be so. But I tell them it’s too... Read more

Isn’t it past time for the United States to have a female president? I think so, but I am not here endorsing any specific candidate. During my lifetime there have been many women leaders in government who would have made excellent presidents. Some of them were candidates but did not receive their party’s nomination. I think Maine senator Margaret Chase Smith would have made a good president. Imagine if she had been elected in 1964 instead of the man who... Read more

Review of The Future of Evangelicalism in America: The Definitive Scholarly Examination of Contemporary American Evangelicalism It’s been a long time coming and way overdue when it finally arrived. A week ago I received my complimentary copy of The Future of Evangelicalism in America edited by Candy Gunther Brown and Mark Silk and published by Columbia University Press (2016). I wrote my chapter entitled “The Emerging Divide in Evangelical Theology” (pp. 92-123) in 2012! The editors are not to blame... Read more

Does God Still “Speak” to Individuals and Groups? This is a question rarely pondered or discussed by mainstream theologians. And “ordinary Christians” hold different opinions about it. I suspect most theologians and most ordinary Christians would prefer not to examine it in too much detail. The question, if taken seriously, opens a can of worms. When I was a Pentecostal Christian—from birth until about age 25—I believed, together with all Pentecostals, that God does speak today. Historically and theologically that’s a... Read more

“The Kingdom of God as Critical Principle for Christian Social Ethics: America The Maston Lectures, East Texas Baptist University April, 2016 Roger E. Olson “That action is right which fits the shape of the Kingdom to come.” John Howard Yoder In my first lecture of this series I explained what I mean by a “critical principle.” Here I use it as an ethical concept: a litmus test for what is morally-ethically acceptable and what is not. It seems self-evident to... Read more