Remembering the “Progressive Orthodoxy” of Horace Bushnell Part One   Progressive Orthodoxy One thing I like to do here is point readers back to neglected theologians. As a historical theologian, I find many “new” proposals in theology are not that new. Often they echo theological ideas of the past even as their promoters advance them as new. There’s some truth to the old sayings that there’s nothing new under the sun and that history repeats itself. In fact, sometimes it... Read more

God According to Liberal Theology This continues my/our discussion of my book Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity. Here I take up Chapter 4: God According to Liberal Theology. If you have read the chapter you may comment. If not, only ask a question. The thesis of the chapter is: “The majority of liberal Christian thinkers do not believe in supernatural divine interventions in nature or history. However, the revisions go deeper. Most modern liberal Christian thinkers... Read more

Pentecostal versus Charismatic versus Prosperity Gospel Yes, today these labels overlap. But that was not always the case. Here’s the story. The modern Pentecostal movement in America was born in 1906 at the Azusa Street Revival near downtown Los Angeles. People spoke in tongues and some identified that as the “initial, physical evidence” of the “second blessing,” the “infilling of the Holy Spirit.” The movement then went on to birth numerous denominations including the Assemblies of God. The mostly Black... Read more

The Liberal View of the Bible Here I continue discussion of my book Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity. The subject here is Chapter 3: Liberal Theology and the Bible. If you have read the chapter, you are welcome to comment (following my stated guidelines below). If you have not read the chapter, you are welcome to ask a question that is clearly on topic. A problem here is that there is no “orthodox” (small “o”) doctrine... Read more

The Sin of Shutting Down USAID According to reliable news reports, Elon Musk has called USAID (United States Agency for International Development) a “tremendous fraud” and a barrel of worms. I know people who work for USAID and it is perhaps America’s greatest agency, saving millions of people, including children, from starvation in places like Sudan and Haiti. So far as I can discover, no evidence has emerged to support Musk’s (and others’) claims about USAID. So why is this... Read more

Walter Lippmann and Liberal Theology Conservative Presbyterian theologian J. Gresham Machen’s book Christianity and Liberalism was published in 1923. There he argued that liberal theology is incompatible with biblical, orthodox Christianity and even with Christianity at all. He argued that it is a different religion and liberal theologians should admit it. Soon after that, renowned public intellectual Walter Lippmann, a secular humanist, publicly agreed with Machen. Of course, numerous conservative Christians have agreed with both Machen and Lippmann. That is... Read more

The Prescience of Tony Campolo: He Warned Us The year was 1985. The “Reagan Era” was in full swing. Conservative Christians were shouting Reagan’s praises. In the midst of the noise evangelical writer and speaker Tony Campolo (d. 2024) wrote a chapter that warned about the future. The book was strangely titled: We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Partly Right. The book is about secular thinkers often labeled “the enemy” by conservative Christians in America and how they... Read more