I am very proud of my students–past and present. Recently two of them have made what I consider powerful and positive contributions to the evangelical community (and beyond). Austin Fischer is teaching pastor at The Vista Community (church) in central Texas (Temple/Belton). He is the author of the much acclaimed book Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed that I reviewed and recommended here. If you haven’t purchased it and read it, you should. He is the new up and coming evangelical... Read more

Some Follow-up Thoughts about the Bible and Genocide   Comments here responding to my earlier essay about Jesus, the children, and Old Testament texts of terror (e.g., God commanding Israel to slaughter infants) have often, in my opinion, distorted what I said—reading into my essay points I did not make. For example, I never suggested “cutting out” portions of Scripture and I certainly did not advocate Marcionism. These are ideas read into my essay, not out of it. The issue... Read more

Guest Post by John Inglis Re: Carl Trueman’s First Things article “A Church for Exiles”   From Roger Olson: I agree with those who have suggested that frequent commenter John Inglis is an excellent and insightful writer. I asked him to work one of his recent comments into a guest post for this blog and below is his response. I couldn’t have said it better myself.   Carl Trueman’s “A Church for Exiles” and Roger Olson’s response are worth working... Read more

Some Thoughts about Evangelical Superstar Pastors and Evangelists and Why They Fall In recent weeks and months another American evangelical superstar pastor (also author and popular speaker) has fallen off his pedestal—if not completely at least partially and with a loud noise. As always when this happens, his followers and fans are divided. Some support him almost unconditionally while some accuse him of spiritual abuse, abuse of power and various misdeeds. It has all gone viral. This time, fortunately, the... Read more

An Arminian-Anabaptist Response to “A Church for Exiles” by Carl R. Trueman The August, 2014 issue of the journal First Things (online) contains an article by Westminster Theological Seminary church history professor Carl R. Trueman entitled “A Church for Exiles: Why Reformed Christianity Provides the Best Basis for Faith Today.” I suggest you read it before reading and considering my response here. (Simply “google” the title to find the article online.) I suggest reading the last paragraph of the article... Read more

Should Christians Fear Being “On the Wrong Side of History?” I cannot count the number of times I have heard people, including some Christians, say that Christians should adjust their view of sexuality (viz., become “welcoming and affirming” and support same-sex marriage) because, otherwise, they are going to turn out to be “on the wrong side of history.” That’s code for turning out to have been like our ancestors who defended slavery, oppression of women, and resisted the Civil Rights... Read more

God and Children: Would Jesus (God) Command Their Slaughter? Recently I posted here about God’s character and argued that God could not, because of his character, revealed in Jesus, command the merciless slaughter of children. Several conservative Christians objected, pointing to Old Testament texts of terror such as 1 Samuel 15 where God is reported as ordering the Hebrews to slaughter an entire tribe including infants. If there is anything in the Bible with which I struggle more than this,... Read more

I didn’t want that post (the immediately preceding one) to get too long, so I omitted one observation-experience that formed part of its immediate background. I mentioned the advice columnists who told the boy’s mother to take him to a doctor–assuming he was suffering delusions when he claimed to be seeing and hearing from a dead cousin about whom he knew nothing naturally. I confess that because of some of my own life experiences I am interested in the paranormal.... Read more

How Open Should Christians Be to the “Paranormal?” American popular culture loves the paranormal and almost anything can be lumped into that category and depicted for entertainment. But as much as Americans love to imagine ghosts, clairvoyance, and supernatural powers, most do not really believe in them. We are the opposite of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his fictional character Sherlock Holmes. Holmes did not believe in anything beyond reason and sensory evidence. He was, to all appearances, anyway, the... Read more

“Community: The Impossible Possibility” Roger E. Olson “To dwell above with saints we love, That will be grace and glory. To live below with saints we know; Now, that’s another story!” Why do I say that community is an impossible possibility? Simply because community is what we’re created for and yet we never quite achieve it. At least not in this world. Community is something almost everyone longs for and seeks and yet everything we call “community” falls short of... Read more