Watch Evangelicals Lose Their Young

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

Two posts of note today. I don’t often re-post stuff from Rachel Held Evans, mainly because I assume that you all read her already. Her posts are, almost without exception, worth reading. But today’s post was, I think, a watershed post for her (and probably for many post-evangelicals). The talk for many years has been around Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. His conclusion: There isn’t an evangelical mind. Well, that was nearly 20 years ago. Evangelicals have done their... Read more

The Fuller Seminary of Malaysia

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

I’ve given three lectures so far in Malaysia. The first was on ministry uses of social media for Alpha Omega College in Kuala Lumpur. It was a great crowd. After my presentation, there was a time for questions. The first question was: We have been told that Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg work for the CIA. Is this true? I almost made a “Culinary Institute of America” joke, but figured that would fall flat. I assured the nice woman that, no,... Read more

Responding to Mark Driscoll with the Bible

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

In my New Year Predictions, I noted that Mark Driscoll had generally kept his pie hole shut recently. That ended with a tweet this week: A high-profile Seattle clergyman delivered a jarring note as clergy across the country delivered best wishes to President Obama at the launch of his second term in the White House. Mark Driscoll, founding pastor at the Mars Hill Church, tweeted: “Praying for our President, who today will place his hand on a Bible he does... Read more

Irony Noted

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

Here’s the sign outside of the room in which I lectured last night: Comments welcome… Read more

Lauren Winner Is in Prison

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

Lauren Winner has the semester off of teaching at Duke, but she’s teaching a seminary-level class in a women’s prison (so much for a sabbatical). Her experience in prison is changing the way that she read the Bible, as she writes in this week’s lectionary post at The Hardest Question: Gospel Reading: Luke 4:14-21 For Sunday, January 27, 2013: Year C—Epiphany 3 I am writing this from the classroom of a women’s prison in central North Carolina. The classroom is... Read more

Jesus Had a Brain (and Other Organs) [Questions That Haunt]

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

This week, Aaron Berkowitz challenged us with a question about the seeming conflict between modern psychology and traditional Christology. You can read the full question here, but here’s the money quote: What does it mean in terms of neurobiology to say that Christ had both a human and a divine “will” if all thought is really just neurons firing?And if Jesus doesn’t have a brain that is noticeably different from you or I, how does his divinity interact with his... Read more

The Way of the Agnostic

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

How do you evaluate the claims of a religion? Many readers of this blog are agnostic or atheist (as witnessed in the comments of the latest Questions That Haunt (which I will answer in the next 24 hours!)). Well, Gary Cutting has some words of wisdom for you: To evaluate a religion, we need to distinguish the three great human needs religions typically claim to satisfy: love, understanding, and knowledge. Doing so lets us appreciate religious love and understanding, even... Read more

Emerging in Malaysia

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

After 34 hours of travel, I landed in Kuala Lumpur yesterday afternoon and was retrieved at the airport by Pastor Arul, my new friend and the one who has arranged for my trip here. Arul is a great guy. He was a Methodist pastor, but several years ago he struck out on his own to start a new church. Here’s the sign: (more…) Read more

My (Second) Favorite Rabbi

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

The Jewish Journal has a story about my friend and rabbi Sharon Brous*: The first thing Rabbi Brous brings to the table that some rabbis do not is a clarity of vision. She sees Judaism as it has been practiced in the recent past, and she sees where it could go. Her vision includes the desire to create a sense of surprise, to foster innovation, and to create a sense of connection to God and to others in the community.... Read more

When Travel Lacks Romance

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

It seems romantic to travel overseas. And I’m not saying that I don’t like it. But when you read this, I’ll be in the middle of this: 3 hour flight 7 hour layover 14.5 hour flight 2.5 hour layover 4.5 hour flight It’s a brutal schedule — hard on the body and the soul (of course, I mean “soul” metaphorically). 🙂 Few things are worse that listening to someone who gets to travel complain about traveling. I’m thrilled that I... Read more