Remembering C. Everett Koop (and Lewis Smedes) Yesterday, Monday, February 25, former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop died at his home in New Hampshire. He was 96. Anyone who paid attention to public controversies knew of him in the 1980s as a rock ribbed conservative evangelical appointed by President Ronald Reagan—perhaps as a bone thrown to his evangelical supporters. At least that’s how some regarded his appointment. He turned out to be a strong advocate for AIDS research in... Read more

A New York Times article by Samuel G. Freedman (republished in my local newspaper Feb. 23, 2013 under the headline “Through a theological lens”) discusses the film “Zero Dark Thirty” and its implications for the subject of torture. The movie is about the investigation leading up to the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound and depicts scenes of people being tortured for information leading to that. The article quotes Princeton theologian George Hunsinger asking “What does it say about American... Read more

R. C. Sproul, Arminianism, and Semi-Pelagianism Many years ago, as I was emerging out of my fundamentalist-Pentecostal cocoon into the larger world of evangelicalism (during seminary studies at an evangelical Baptist seminary) I was helped by the writings and teaching of several leading Reformed evangelical theologians. James Montgomery Boice, pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and publisher of Eternity magazine, was one of them. Not only did I read his books and articles in Eternity; I also studied under... Read more

1) I do not post links within comments (I either don’t post the comment that contains them or I edit the comment to delete them) unless I happen to have time to look at the web sites first. So if you include a hyperlink within your comment it may or may not appear here. Too many hyperlinks within a comment almost guarantee the comment will not appear here. 2) I don’t post comments that contain names of individuals or organizations... Read more

Is a “Consumption Tax” Fair? I have argued here and elsewhere (e.g., in newspaper letters to the editor and guest columns) that income tax is the only fair tax because it’s the only tax based solely on ability to pay. (I might include “luxury tax” also.) In recent years a vocal minority have been calling for a universal “consumption tax” to replace income taxes. I tended to dismiss them as unthinking (to use a nicer word than what I really... Read more

Godless Capitalism? When I was a kid growing up in the 1950s and 1960s American heartland and in an ultra-conservative church “godlesscommunism” was one word, not two. One of the worst things people in my religious context could say about someone was “communist” and that label covered a lot of territory. I remember when Lyndon Johnson won his election over Barry Goldwater. I went to school the next day and very publicly proclaimed Johnson “a communist.” The teacher gave me... Read more

Why I Am Not a Fundamentalist (or Conservative Evangelical) I gladly identify  myself as an “evangelical Christian,” but I prefer not to call myself or be considered a fundamentalist or conservative even though there were times and contexts in which I might have fit those categories (however uncomfortably). Recently I posted here about how I define “fundamentalism” and identify a person as “fundamentalist.” Anyone who has come here often for very long knows I am not a fundamentalist by my... Read more

What Is “Fundamentalism” and Who Is a “Fundamentalist?” Recently I posted here “Why I Am  Not a ‘Liberal’ Christian.” Someone asked me to write a similar post about fundamentalism—specifically how to identify a fundamentalist. I’ll begin with what most readers, probably, want to see and what the requester asked for—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... Read more

Problems with Calvinist Polemics against Arminianism Of all the “five points of Calvinism” the one that bothers me most is Limited Atonement (or what many Calvinists prefer to call “Particular Atonement”). While I find unconditional election and irresistible grace troublesome and problematic, they rise nowhere near limited atonement in terms of departing from Scripture, tradition, reason and experience. I’ve explained why in Against Calvinism and other writings (e.g., my article about limited atonement in the Assemblies of God ministers’ journal... Read more