Barack Obama's decision to call it quits at Trinity UCC in Chicago is one that will certainly relieve his campaign handlers. The spectacles of Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger having their rants rebroadcast in an endless loop is certainly one that Obama and the campaign will find easier to deal with now that he has …
Getting Saved in America
This week's podcast is Getting Saved in America, a faculty address by Dr. Bill J. Leonard, at the time professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He delivered it on 4 May 1983. I'm posting this as a sort of follow up to a recent discussion on faith and works that I became involved in. Dr. …
Brian McLaren: Right at Home with the Reappraisers at Lambeth
As if he hasn't caused enough trouble with his fellow Evangelicals, Brian McLaren takes his Emergent roadshow to the upcoming Anglican Lambeth conference: Rumor has it that Brian Mclaren, one of the leaders of the emerging church movement, has been invited to address the assembled bishops at Lambeth. This should not be a surprise as …
Continue reading "Brian McLaren: Right at Home with the Reappraisers at Lambeth"
The Church: Going Back to What?
Jonathan Stone explores the issue of "Primal Church:" When I speak of primal church I am not speaking of some sort of neanderthal church, but rather those primitive elements that still serve as the basic building blocks of the church. For example, geometrically speaking, we can think of the primitive shapes such as cones, spheres, …
Israel: the Happiest Nation on Earth?
Back in the 1960's, the Armenian-American Demos Sharkarian wrote The Happiest People on Earth, about the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International and full-Gospel Christians in general. Now Spengler--who I feature frequently--tells us that Israel, celebrating its 60th anniversary, is in fact the happiest nation on earth: In a world given over to morbidity, the state …
“Evangelicals are Being Shunned”
The new Lord Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is spot on with this one: In an interview with ReligiousIntelligence.com, he said that the good work done by many Christian and evangelical groups is often just ignored and derided. “I think there is a culture now in our society where if something is even vaguely Christian, …
When people come forward in his church to accept Jesus as their savior, I don’t say: ‘Do you have papers?’
Should we? It's a good question in Pentecostal churches where Hispanic congregations are growing and voting: Gonzalez and other Hispanic pastors across the country seized on the debate to come together as a political force gaining momentum. Hispanic Pentecostals, some experts say, can become an important swing vote in the 2008 elections in key demographic …
Book Review: Sex God
Rob Bell has become a major voice in "post-modern" Evangelicalism with books such as Velvet Elvis and the NOOMA series of videos. He likes to travel on the edge, and so when he came out with a book entitled Sex God, it's tempting to think that he's gone over it. But before I explore the …
The Other Sheep of Jeremiah Wright
Now we can discuss something really important about Jeremiah Wright: On Monday, Pastor Jeremiah Wright had the following exchange with the moderator at the National Press Club (transcript): MODERATOR: “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father but through me.’ Do you believe this? And do …
Wealth Accumulation and Consevative Protestants: More Biblical Than We Thought?
For all the years of prosperity teaching, conservative Protestants still do not match the wealth accumulation of others in the U.S.: According to data analyzed by Keister, a Duke University sociologist, the median net worth for conservative Protestants in 2000 was $26,000, compared to the national median of $66,200. Why the gap? Keister says it …
Continue reading "Wealth Accumulation and Consevative Protestants: More Biblical Than We Thought?"
Positive Infinity 