So What, Then, Is “American Evangelicalism?” One segment of American society, including both secular and religious people, including some people I consider “evangelicals” in my sense of the term, regard “American evangelicalism” as a far right-wing political movement if not a “hate group.” They base this on a combination of two factors. First, many leading spokespersons for far-right wing American politics call themselves “evangelicals.” This has been going on since fundamentalists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson established movements within American... Read more

Denomination of the Week: Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) I realize that I am not keeping up with my intention of commenting here about a different American denomination every week, but I will occasionally post essays here about various denominations. For those of you who were not around when this series began: I have accepted the editorship of the Handbook of Denominations in the United States 14th edition. I tend to post essays here about smaller, lesser-known denominations to make... Read more

Calling out “Calling out ‘American Evangelicalism’” On January 19 (2016) moderate Baptist writer and editor John Pierce published a column entitled “Calling out ‘American Evangelicalism’” at https://baptiststoday.org/calling-out-american-evangelicalism/ . Pierce is editor of Nurturing Faith Journal—“the signature publication of Baptists Today, Inc.” I know and respect him as a leading spokesman for moderate Baptists—a category in which I place myself. In my opinion, as a scholar of American evangelicalism and as a proud lifelong evangelical, Pierce’s attack on American evangelicalism is... Read more

Is Modern Unbelief Rooted in Christianity? I receive many books from authors and publishers wanting me to review them on my blog. I try to do justice to as many of the “freebies” as possible, but some just don’t deserve my attention here. One that does surprises me. I strongly recommend it to you not because I agree with everything the author says in it but because it is surprising and challenging to the traditional “orthodox” interpretation of modern doubt... Read more

John Piper and “Christian Hedonism”   Some here and elsewhere have asked me about John Piper: Do I know him? What do I think of him? That’s because, I suppose, of my open opposition to “high Calvinism” (five point Calvinism) and the Young, Restless, Reformed Movement insofar as it places that theology at its center. John Piper has long been the real “guru” of that movement and he has long been a staunch advocate of high Calvinism including divine determinism.... Read more

“Diversity”: A Much Desired but Often Poorly Understood Goal For most of my almost thirty-five years of full time teaching on the undergraduate and graduate levels (in American Christian higher education) “diversity” has been much discussed, promoted and debated. Everyone seems to want it, but many seem to desire something different. In other words, there is diversity of understanding of the much sought for “diversity.” My impression is this: If you went around and polled the administrators and faculty members... Read more

A couple years ago I posted an earlier version of this here, but this is a somewhat revised and updated version–about “narrative theology,” which I think is widely misunderstood (e.g., as treating the Bible as fiction). I am leading a class in reading and discussing theologian Emil Brunner’s Dogmatics. For the life of  me I still cannot figure out why Barth is so wildly popular and Brunner so neglected. One thing I have discovered over the years is that Brunner’s... Read more

Critical Thoughts about Belief in God and Modern Science (Using a Case Study: James Burke’s The Day the Universe Changed: Science Revises the Heavens) James Burke is a British journalist famous for making films and writing books about intellectual history for the masses. He has a unique way of presenting complex subjects about culture—philosophy, the arts, religion, politics, science—in entertaining ways. For years I have used his documentary film series “The Day the Universe Changed” in classes—to illustrate cultural revolutions... Read more

Reflections on the Bill Gothard Phenomenon and Scandal (and Comparison between that Phenomenon and the Young, Restless, Reformed Movement) One of the questions most frequently asked about the “Young, Restless, Reformed Movement” (YRRM) is the reason for its popularity. People often ask me why so many young(ish) Christians are attracted to it. After all, to most observers its rise and spread seems inexplicable. Hard-core Calvinism was supposed to be dead and gone except among a few older Reformed people in... Read more

Denomination of the Week: Beachy Amish Hollywood and television routinely portray all Amish people as alike. They ride in black horse-drawn buggies and don’t own motor vehicle; the men wear beards and funny hats; the women wear plain dresses down to their ankles and with long sleeves; they all farm or make furniture; they live without electricity. Many people’s images of the Amish come from movies like “Witness” starring Harrison Ford as a big city detective who takes refuge with... Read more