I’m an avid student of denominations and have served as an unpaid consultant to two major handbooks of denominations.  I realize we are living in what some call a “post-denominational” era, but in reality denominations are alive and well and proliferating.  There are at least 300 distinct denominations in the U.S. with over 5,000 members and I’m sure there are more that haven’t been discovered yet.  And new ones keep popping up all the time.  Two of the newest are… Read more

Some students and readers have asked me why I expend energy and waste time trying to define evangelicalism; why not just give up the term “evangelical” and let the conservatives, fundamentalists and Religious Right people own it?  After all, so I’m told, it’s too late to rescue it.  “Evangelical” and “evangelicalism” are now so identified in the popular mind with right-wing conservativism in both theology and politics that they can’t be salvaged.  I’m urged to just let them go. So… Read more

Needless to say, my first post about evangelicalism was incomplete.  There’s so much more to be said about this subject.  Here I want to continue my delineation of the term “evangelical” and the movement called “evangelicalism.”  I’m not going to take back anything I wrote there, but I’d like to add to it. First, about Noll’s and Bebbington’s four hallmarks of authentic evangelicalism.  I would add a fifth as part of the historical-theological core of the evangelical movement and its… Read more

I’m a bit of a Luddite when it comes to technology.  Well, it’s not exactly that I’m AGAINST it; I’m just not very good at it!  It takes me a while to catch up.  Everyone seems to have a blog and I’ve been urged to join the crowd, so here goes.  I’ll probably make some mistakes, but please be patient with me.  From time to time (hopefully at least once weekly) I’ll post some of my thoughts about theology here. … Read more