My article “The Bonds of Freedom” is now published in Christianity Today (October, 2012) and should be available digitally on line–at least for subscribers. Try: http://christianitytoday.imirus.com/Mpowered/book/vchto12/i10/p1 I will be interested in answers to this question: Does what I say here satisfy (or at least mollify) my Calvinist critics who say Arminians make an idol out of free will (e.g., by elevating it to true freedom)? Of course, any feedback is welcome (that is civil and respectful). Read more

Evangelical Inquisitions I’ve been actively involved in evangelicalism and especially the evangelical academy (scholarly community) for over thirty years now and I’ve noticed a bad habit among conservative evangelical biblical scholars and theologians. They seem addicted to inquisitions. It happened to me again, just today. An e-mail from “friends” (an evangelical organization I allegedly belonged to) informing me that I was under investigation (not their words, but clearly their intent) for possibly being in conflict with the organization’s statement of... Read more

A Neglected Theory of the Atonement? Evangelical theology has fallen into another debate over the atonement. Or perhaps I should say we are in the midst of another phase of that long running debate. One of the central questions is whether the penal substitution theory is central to evangelical belief in the atoning death of Jesus. I’ve discussed the controversy here before, so I won’t go over it again. Let me just say that, as I read the literature of... Read more

According to several news reports I have read, the City of New Orleans and its police department are attempting to stop street preaching on Bourbon Street after dark. Some preachers have been arrested, but a judge has slapped an injunction on the city to stop it from enforcing the ordinance until a hearing can be held on the preachers’ claim that their freedom of speech is being abridged. Here is what one GLBT community leader said about preaching on Bourbon... Read more

I recently attended a lecture by a leading British theologian who is NOT generally considered “liberal.” The subject of the lecture was the urban roots of modern theology and the focus was on Schleiermacher and Berlin. It was very informative about how the Berlin of that time shaped Schleiermacher’s theology. The speaker admitted that Schleiermacher was the father of modern theology and that he did not believe in the resurrection, but he claimed that (I quote) “Schleiermacher was not a... Read more

Confessions of an Ecumenical, Evangelical, Baptist Christian The only problematic adjective in that string of labels, at least to most people, is “ecumenical.” How can a person be all four of those at once? Well, some might question whether one can be evangelical and Baptist or Baptist and Christian, but I’ll set those aside for now. I’ll take for granted that in the U.S., anyway, the problematic element in the list is ecumenical. Many evangelicals and Baptists question whether it... Read more

Austin, Texas, October 5-6: The Midsouth Regional gathering of the Ecclesia Project: http://midsouth.ecclesianet.org. Topic: “Everyday Theology.” I will be giving a keynote address on that subject on Friday evening (October 5). Alexandria, Virginia, April 11-13, 2013 inaugural national gathering of the new Missio Alliance: www.missioalliance.org. Topic: “The Future of the Gospel.” Many speakers including yours truly. I hope many of you will attend one or both of these as possible. Caveat: I realize some of the participants and presenters at... Read more

Who Is a “Real Christian?” Several times recently I’ve mentioned “real Christians” here. A few visitors and commenters have objected to the concept. How is it possible to discriminate between “real Christians” and, well, false Christians? If we start at the other end, so to speak, and talk about “false Christians,” it’s easier to understand why it’s necessary to speak about real Christians. Who can doubt there have been and are false Christians? I confess that this habit of distinguishing... Read more

Toward the end of Between Babel and the Beast, Leithart decries the lack of Christian martyrs, especially in the West. I believe his statement is (I loaned the book to someone so I don’t have it ready to hand) “We have not been very good at producing martyrs.” The context makes clear he is talking about Christians in the West, if not America specifically. It is not always easy to interpret Leithart’s statements, but I take it he is saying... Read more

Recently I reviewed Peter Leithart’s book Between Babel and Beast (Cascade, 2012). Well, only Part II: Americanism. Now I have finished the book. Part III is the title of the book. There Leithart indicts America for its foreign policy and behavior toward other nations and peoples. He says “For much of the last century, the United States has forged alliances with repressive despots. (150) ” He concludes that “Churches should…encourage Christians to discover ways to turn American power toward justice,... Read more