Here are five things I’m thankful for as I look back on 2015. 1. Another strong financial year for CBMW. We are seeking to close out the year strong, but to date, we will surpass last year’s financial intake. This is a tremendous blessing and a sign of God’s unmerited kindness. We are seeking further donations in the next several days, so if our ministry has helped you in some way, we encourage you to give. See Grant... Read more
Wheaton College, a leading evangelical institution, finds itself in the headlines this week after placing a professor on leave. The professor, Larycia Hawkins, wore an Islamic hijab (female head-scarf) and articulated sympathy for Islam as a religion on her Facebook page. Wheaton drew strong feedback when Hawkins’s actions and views became public, and the college referenced its statement of faith in placing Hawkins on leave. I was puzzled by several responses, including this one from Jonathan Merritt, which seems to... Read more
I’ve enjoyed the lively conversation that has emerged over this question: are pastors scholars? Some of the conversation has engaged the book Kevin Vanhoozer and I recently published, The Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision (Baker Academic, August 2015). In the book, Vanhoozer and I make the case that the pastor is the “organic intellectual” of the Christian community. Said another way, the pastor is a theologically-informed generalist whose preaching makes good on the claim that all things cohere in... Read more
This one has all the makings of a classic boxing match, doesn’t it? James “KO” Smith against Owen “Trampling Marsden’s Coattails” Strachan. What do I mean? Let me give you the breathtaking blow-by-blow. I just published Awakening the Evangelical Mind: An Intellectual History of Neo-Evangelicalism (Zondervan Academic, Oct. 2015). Awakening represents the culmination of nearly a decade’s worth of work. I first engaged Harold Ockenga, Billy Graham, and Carl F. H. Henry in my MDiv at Southern Seminary. In 2006, I took a class on... Read more
In 1987, Wayne Grudem, John Piper, Dorothy Patterson, and a number of other Christian leaders came together to found the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood. They did so because there was little broad-scale representation of the complementarian viewpoint over against egalitarianism. Fast forward to 2015. CBMW is, by God’s grace, going strong. But there’s way more than just one energetic outfit. Alongside tens of thousands of churches, a massive outlay of parachurch organizations, several thriving publishing houses, and much... Read more
The University of Tennessee just made national news by suggesting that faculty use “gender-neutral” pronouns in their classrooms. The Pride Center at UT led this charge and suggested some terms to use instead of “his” and “her”: “ze,” “zir,” and “xe,” which sounds like the name of the most minimalist superhero the world has ever known. It’s noteworthy that this attempt to remake human ordinariness has been propelled by the on-campus initiative to normalize homosexual orientation and activity at UT. I just... Read more
The world gaped in awe at the story of the four Americans, aided by a Brit and a Frenchman, who singlehandedly, without weapons, prevented a mass shooting on a French train a couple weeks back. I just wrote about this Jason Bourne-like episode for The Stream. It is a story you need to read. It will lift your spirits as it did mine. Writing this essay reminded me of the duty we have to train boys to take risks and lead... Read more
I just read a depressing–and oddly encouraging–piece about the recent Ashley Madison hack that exposed users of the site, which purports to facilitate affairs. Here’s what Annalee Newitz of Gizmodo found in analyzing the data from users: Overall, the picture is grim indeed. Out of 5.5 million female accounts, roughly zero percent had ever shown any kind of activity at all, after the day they were created. The men’s accounts tell a story of lively engagement with the site, with... Read more
The tipping point against abortion is coming. It may well be here. Planned Parenthood is on the run. It may be giving out awards to one mainstream journalist after another, but no matter. It senses the change in the wind. The abortion industry is a sham. It bills itself as medical. It presents itself as aimed at women’s health. Perhaps in some distant corner closet of the great towering monolith that is the abortion industry, there are people who genuinely... Read more
Hillsong Church of New York City has landed in the news recently. Reed Kelly and Josh Canfield, a gay couple, have apparently been serving in the ministry of Hillsong NYC while remaining in their relationship. Over at The Stream, I made the case that if Hillsong failed to call this couple to repentance for their homosexual activity, then it offers them and others a “half gospel.” This was all of interest in part because I have just written a book, The Colson... Read more
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