"Third Isaiah" is, in fact, fightin' words in many white evangelical churches and institutions -- even though the reference is not at all controversial (we might even say "innocuous") among most evangelical clergy. This, again, reflects the gulf between what I've sometimes called the evangelical "faculty lounge" and the general evangelical populace. Evangelical leaders know many things that they cannot speak of outside of the faculty lounge. Read more
Paid sick days keep us all a lot healthier, but many employees don't get sick days because they're not technically employees -- just the exploited "independent contractors" of the growing precariat. Also: What does it mean when a governor leads a protest march at the state capitol? And RIP to Glenn Frey and to Richard Libertini. Read more
Donald Trump's clumsy proof-texting based on a half-understood concordance search showed his audience at Liberty University that he shares their hermeneutic. And his awkward failed attempts to pander to their subculture comforted Liberty students with memories of their beloved, awkwardly pandering youth ministers from church back home. Read more
"We should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search of truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it. That would be to battle not for the teaching of Holy Scripture but for our own, wishing its teaching to conform to ours, whereas we ought to wish ours to conform to that of Sacred Scripture." Read more
Wheaton College's Statement of Faith requires that its scientists maintain a pretense of official uncertainty about human origins, and that its biblical scholars maintain the same pretense of uncertainty about the genre, composition, and meaning of the Book of Genesis. These professors are, therefore, never quite allowed to teach students the whole of what they know to be true. That's not good. Read more
"Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?" Read more
Gladys Knight's version of "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" seems like an excellent candidate for rechristening as a Jesus Is My Boyfriend song. Capitalize the word "You" throughout and I think we're looking at a can't-miss Christian radio hit. Read more
It's a display for adhesive letters and numbers for mailboxes. It's also an invitation for juvenile gags by customers. And it can also be a word game. Here are some proposed rules. Read more
Theologian J.R. Daniel Kirk's terrific Storied Theology blog is now part of the line-up on Patheos' progressive Christian channel. Writing that sentence makes me smile. Read more
This is, after all, a video recording of a dead man, the instructions for which indicate that it is not to be viewed until after his death and the mass-death of everyone in his religious community. The message of the video is, in essence: "We're all dead. You're not. Here's why." At the very best, its message could be spun as "God didn't love you enough to end your life like he ended ours." Read more
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