Dale M. Coulter

The discussion about millennials or evangelicals going liturgical suggests that catechesis should be an ecumenical enterprise. Continue Reading »

As Christians reflect on The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, they should recognize the connection between prayers for God’s kingdom to come and prayers for Christian unity. These prayers must always be said together. Continue Reading »

The Mercersburg theology of John W. Nevin and Philip Schaff offers a sacramental understanding of Reformed theology centered on union with Christ. Their efforts to return to the Church catholic is finding new followers in ways that suggest there might be a Mercersburg moment in Reformed circles, a welcome development. Continue Reading »

At the end of December the New York Times and Foreign Policy published pieces on African Pentecostalism, deliverance, and the demonic. Co-authoring the Foreign Policy article, Jill Filipovic and Ty McCormick focused on the relationship between Pentecostalism, witchcraft, and traditional African . . . . Continue Reading »

In December Peter Berger wrote a brief reflection on Archbishop Justin Welby’s inviting four members of the Catholic Charismatic community Chemin Neuf to live and pray at Lambeth Palace. His reflection was based on a story in The Tablet. For Berger, this development was a pleasant surprise and . . . . Continue Reading »

I don’t always compose follow-up posts, but, in this case, I think further elaboration and clarification are in order. In my “qualified defense” of therapeutic Christianity, I utilized Christian Smith’s and Melinda Denton’s 2005 book Soul Searching to highlight the debates . . . . Continue Reading »

Over the course of blogging I have discovered that words can be taken in all kinds of ways, many of which I did not intend. While this is the case with all writing, it takes on a particular vigor in the virtual world. Reader-response is alive and well in the blogosphere. Part of this is no doubt due . . . . Continue Reading »

In 2005 Christian Smith and Melinda Denton published a study of American teenagers in which they offered a “conjecture” that the dominant religion among adolescents was “moralistic therapeutic deism” (MTD). Suggesting that the MTD creed was operative among mainline and . . . . Continue Reading »

When Francis of Assisi orchestrated the first crèche in Greccio on Christmas Eve in 1223 with its scene of infant child surrounded by living animals, the intention was to humanize the birth of the messiah and so remind medieval Christians how near this God was. As Francis states, “I wish . . . . Continue Reading »

During my doctoral program at Oxford, my wife and I had the good fortune of attending a wonderful Anglican church. Located just across from Christ Church, St. Aldate’s has a history going back to the twelfth century and St. Frideswide, which spoke to me given that I was writing on the canons . . . . Continue Reading »