Something Interesting Is Happening in the Worldwide Anglican Communion (And Why It Matters to Non-Anglicans) I am not an Anglican in any sense of the word. What I mean is I’m not even Episcopalian. But over the years I have had friends who are Anglican (Episcopalian is a form of Anglican) and as editor of the Handbook of Denominations in the United States I have done my best to inform myself about “happenings” in the Anglican world. The Handbook includes... Read more

Has the Time Come for a New Neo-Evangelicalism? A bit of history for those who are not already versed in the story of 20th century American evangelical Christianity. (And here let me put in a plug for Ryan Reeves’s Youtube video “The Rise of Evangelicalism.” You could spend worse 30 minutes than watching it.) In 1942 a group of fundamentalist evangelicals (or evangelical fundamentalists) got together and formed a new umbrella organization called the National Association of Evangelicals. One of... Read more

Should Christians Declare or Decree Things over our Lives?   Guest post by Andrew K. Gabriel, Ph.D. *Note: This is a guest essay; the author may or may not wish to respond to questions and comments. Keep comments civil and respectful; stick to the subject and do not misrepresent anything he says here. Neither he nor I speak for anyone but ourselves. This is not a discussion board; do not respond to others’ comments or questions. There is a growing... Read more

Does the Bible Require the Christian Always to Obey Laws? Recently two U.S. government officials appealed to Romans 13 (read it for yourself) to argue that the law must be obeyed. Clearly they were aiming their argument at Christians; who else could they have in mind—given that they were referring to the New Testament? So that raises the old question whether Romans 13 and similar passages of the Bible require Bible-believing people to obey all laws. *Sidebar: The opinions expressed... Read more

Is Cruelty to Children Ever Justifiable? Just asking or hearing such a question should bring an answer immediately to mind—No. On the other hand, we have to ask what constitutes “cruelty.” Here, in this blog post, by “cruelty” I mean inflicting suffering—physical, mental or emotional—on children unnecessarily. I am not talking about subjectively perceived cruelty—the feeling of being treated cruelly. One can feel treated cruelly when that is not really the case. For example, when I was a child and... Read more

Is Suicide Sin? According to news reports suicide has increased in the United States by about thirty percent in the past two to three decades. It seems that is the case in some states more than others, so it might not be correct to project the statistic onto the whole country. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that suicide is increasing in America. In recent years many celebrities have committed suicide and, in most cases, people who knew them said... Read more

Is It Okay to Hate Men? Recently the Washington Post (online edition if not print edition) published an opinion column by a feminist asking “Why can’t we hate men?” She rightly pointed out the painful history of men abusing women and especially the recent seeming avalanche of celebrity examples of such. That history of male mistreatment of women (and I will add other men) is sordid and calls out for angry responses and penalties. I am not even going to... Read more

Is the Evangelical Christianity of My Youth Gone? I know I’m not the first person to ask such a question. I well remember hearing older folks ask almost the same question when I was a kid and wondering what they were talking about. Now that I’m one of those “older folks” I understand what they were talking about. Change is inevitable but uncomfortable—especially as we age. But my question is whether the amount of change is not only of degree... Read more

Did God the Father Really “Turn His Face Away” from Jesus? A relatively new (“newish”) hymn sung in many evangelical churches says that as Jesus was dying on the cross “the Father turns his face away.” (The hymn’s title is “How Great the Father’s Love for Us.) I do not know whether the hymn’s authors were influenced by German theologian Jürgen Moltmann, but in the latter’s classic book The Crucified God he argues that this was the essential moment of... Read more

About the Handbook of Denominations in the United States (14th Edition) (Note: This book, of which I am one of the authors, is now available for purchase. The publisher is Abingdon Press and following essay (which I wrote) about the volume is being published in the United Methodist publication “Ministry Matters.” I use it here with permission by the United Methodist Publishing House.) I have always been intensely interested in denominations. I grew up in one that claimed it was... Read more