Should Christians Practice Yoga? The question came to my mind when I saw that a pre-school operated by a Methodist church is teaching “Yoga for Children.” Of course, I’ve thought about yoga many time before. I have never practiced yoga and would not. I believe yoga is intrinsically linked with Hindu beliefs—no matter how hard some might try to secularize or even Christianize it. Here I find myself uncomfortably in agreement with many fundamentalist and conservative evangelical Christians with whom... Read more

Evangelical Thoughts about Pope Francis As an Anabaptist, ecclesiologically I’m about as far from the Catholic Church (and here I mean the Roman Catholic Church) as possible. (There are other Catholic Churches such as the Old Catholic Church and the Polish National Catholic Church that do not recognize the primacy or infallibility of the bishop of Rome.) Over the years of my academic life in evangelical circles I have known or known of many evangelicals who joined the Catholic Church.... Read more

The Upside-Down Kingdom Chapter 10: Inside Outsiders Here, in this chapter, Donald Kraybill argues from the New Testament that Jesus defiled himself, knowingly and deliberately, by associated himself closely with people many Jews of his time and place considered impure—at least for close, personal interactions. I don’t think there can be any serious doubt about that. Then Kraybill extrapolates from that to a stringent criticism of the “birds of a feather flock together” paradigm of church growth today. Those old... Read more

Desensitizing Young Males to Female Nudity Recently, again, I heard (here) that the solution to the problem of having nude models in Christian college’s and universities’ art classes is to “desensitize” boys and young men to female nudity. Not very long ago a female student told me that the solution to the problem of modesty (or lack of it) in Christian contexts is to teach boys not to objective women’s bodies. I make no secret of the fact that I... Read more

The Upside-Down Kingdom, Chapter 9: Lovable Enemies Whenever I read a chapter of any non-fiction book I look for “the paragraph” that most clearly spells out its thesis. And I often look for the one that takes the argument of the chapter to its natural conclusion. Tear away all the factoids and tangents, however important they may be, and find the paragraph that shocks and really makes the chapter come alive and gives me something to think about and wrestle... Read more

Is the New Testament Message Unique? I have readers of this blog who love to criticize our evangelical Christian belief in the “sacred book” the Bible because 1) it is not inerrant like a modern science textbook (is any science textbook inerrant?), and 2) it is not always easy to understand (what book or document of any real importance is easy to understand?). One direction in which my mind goes is what I believe is unique about the Bible, especially... Read more

The Upside-Down Kingdom, Chapter 8: Impious Piety We continue here our discussion of Donald Kraybill’s classic book “The Upside Down Kingdom.” Chapter 8 is titled “Impious Piety” and deals with religious practices, especially among Christians. It begins, however, with a rather lengthy explanation of Hebrew religious practices in Jesus’s time and before and after. Kraybill argues that Jesus was not a rebel against true Judaism but one against the extreme legalism of the “scribes and the Pharisees.” That legalism included... Read more

Proposal for a Green Letter Bible There are already many “Red Letter Bibles” in which Jesus’s words are printed in red. I grew up with one. I remember at about age twelve wondering how Jesus could have said much of what was in red, especially in John 1. There is also the “Blue Letter Bible” project promoted especially by Calvary Chapels, a denomination founded by Jesus People leader Chuck Smith. However, if I understand correctly, that is not literally to... Read more

A Dark and Disturbing Time for America After many days of confusion and turmoil, the United States House of Representatives has finally chosen its Speaker, the person second in line to the presidency (after the vice president). The Speaker has tremendous power over law-making in America. The Republican majority voted in Mike Johnson, Republican congressman from Louisiana. I do not know anything about him except what I have seen on the news. He has stated before his almost unconditional support... Read more

The Upside-Down Kingdom, Chapter 7:  Right-Side Up Detours Whenever I read a chapter for discussion, especially if I’m leading the discussion, I try to locate THE paragraph that best expresses the point of the chapter. Here is one I chose for Chapter 7: “God’s love for us transforms our economic behavior. Mercy, not accumulation, becomes our new yardstick for measuring success. Generous giving replaces conspicuous consumption. God’s highest command forms the core of this upside-down way. Loving God with all... Read more