Bowdoin College: Religious Freedom Is “Alive and Thriving”

Last updated on: June 12, 2014 at 1:14 pm By Owen Strachan

Two days ago, I noted on this blog a front-page story in the New York Times on the decision of Bowdoin College administrators to effectively displace Bowdoin Christian Fellowship from its status as a college-recognized student organization. I just read a statement the college released about the Times article that advances the viewpoint I just sketched out: Religious freedom and spirituality are alive and thriving at Bowdoin. Contrary to the Times article, the College continues to recognize the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship (BCF) and has no... Read more

John Piper on “Good”: “It Gives Me Hope That God Is Wonderfully at Work”

Last updated on: June 11, 2014 at 9:15 am By Owen Strachan

With our dear friends at Desiring God Ministries, the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood just released a new eBook, Good: The Joy of Christian Manhood and Womanhood. This project, available in multiple formats for free, represents a leap ahead for the complementarian movement, as the book includes over a dozen young men and women who share a vision of gospel-driven, joy-saturated complementarianism. John Piper, cofounder of CBMW with Wayne Grudem, wrote the foreword to Good. Actually, that’s too weak–Piper asked to write the... Read more

Eric Metaxas Has a New TV Show

Last updated on: June 10, 2014 at 6:31 pm By Owen Strachan

An eagle-eyed cultural observer sent me this link; Eric Metaxas, the wittiest evangelical there is and a public intellectual of no small renown, has a new TV show (first reported by Michael Bird). It is 100 Huntley Street, and it pairs Metaxas with April Hernandez of the movie “Freedom Writers.” It looks worth watching thus far, and it’s cool to see Metaxas get a TV show. In the right medium, he’ll be dynamite. With his outstanding Socrates in the City program,... Read more

New York Times Covers Bowdoin College InterVarsity Fracas

Last updated on: June 10, 2014 at 9:23 am By Owen Strachan

This one took me aback–the New York Times just published a lengthy piece on the disenfranchisement of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at my alma mater, Bowdoin College. The piece is poignant, quite fair, and at around 1,200 words ranges over other campuses as well, showing how there is a definite thread connecting Vanderbilt to Bowdoin to Cal State to other schools. For the background to this situation, see my piece entitled “God and Sexuality at Bowdoin” in The American Spectator. This is actually the... Read more

These Are the Men Who Took the Cliffs: On D-Day and Martial Virtue

Last updated on: June 5, 2014 at 1:31 pm By Owen Strachan

Ronald Reagan’s speech on June 6, 1984 at Normandy ranks as one of the greatest speeches in American history. Here is the full text, which includes the famous line, “These are the boys of Ponte Du Hoc.” My favorite comes just after: “These are the men who took the cliffs.” Peggy Noonan, the speechwriter, reflected briefly on it over a decade ago. Interestingly, I personally think the most powerful part comes immediately in the speech. The first three minutes are... Read more

Everyone Needs a Conversion Story: On Sexual Orientation and Salvation

Last updated on: June 4, 2014 at 1:36 pm By Owen Strachan

One of the hottest topics in the public square today is the issue of anthropological identity, or, more plainly, what it means to be human. See, for example, Kirsten Powers’s recent column for USA Today on the church’s apparent need to embrace the validity of gay Christianity. This issue is closely tied to cultural approbation of homosexuality and sexual orientation. What I find rather remarkable about this development is that it is so closely connected to conversion. This may sound... Read more

Tim Keller on Mars Hill Preaching, Homosexuality, and Transgender Identity

Last updated on: June 3, 2014 at 10:37 am By Owen Strachan

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Manhattan pastor Tim Keller for Christianity Today. The interview was about Keller’s new book Encounters with Jesus: Unexpected Answers to Life’s Biggest Questions (Dutton, Nov. 2013). It’s a book that would be marvelous to read whether for one’s own edification or for the purposes of discipleship or evangelism. If you’re in college ministry, and in particular ministry to thoughtful students on a secular college campus, this book will be very valuable. In the course of... Read more

Tim Keller: “There Is a Bar of Justice Somewhere for Everyone”

Last updated on: May 30, 2014 at 1:07 pm By Owen Strachan

Christianity Today just released an interview I did a few months back with Manhattan pastor Tim Keller to talk about his recent book Encounters with Jesus, which I have read and strongly commend to you. I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to talk with Keller and have included his helpful commendation of “objective moral truth” (not just objective morality or objective truth, but the two combined, which is noteworthy) below. Strachan: You state that we all know there’s a standard by which we... Read more

The New JBMW Is Hot Off the Presses

Last updated on: May 28, 2014 at 12:08 pm By Owen Strachan

See this announcement from Denny Burk, the outstanding Editor of the Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood. CBMW has produced JBMW for three decades now and continues to produce a rich body of gospel-fired content aimed at helping the church to think biblically and theologically about challenges and opportunities related to gender and sexuality. The journal, as ever, is free for readers, though we produce it at considerable cost in terms of investment and time. I’m eager to dig into this... Read more

On Leading the Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement

Last updated on: May 28, 2014 at 8:12 am By Owen Strachan

I’m very excited to begin working as the Director of the Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement (@HenrySBTS) at Southern Seminary. Here are the basic details from the SBTS press release: Owen Strachan will lead the Carl F.H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, President R. Albert Mohler Jr. announced last month. “Owen Strachan is one of the finest young scholars and leaders serving the church today,” Mohler said. “He is also a veteran observer... Read more