Several years ago I was explaining to a friend why I’d never been invited to preach in an acquaintance’s church, and never would be. “It’s because I’m not a fundamentalist,” I said. And it was true. Continue Reading »
What is an evangelical?For a thoughtful answer—a masterful example of clear thinking and concise expression—I’d recommend listening to this lecture by John Stott. (It’s 47 minutes long; I’m not sure what year it was delivered. If you know the provenance, please let us . . . . Continue Reading »
Though still relatively young, I would like to think that I’ve grown and matured in my understanding and perspective on faith, theology and culture. I went through a phase in my life a few years ago when I was extremely particular about the views with which I associated myself. I wanted to . . . . Continue Reading »
With the death of Sydney Ahlstrom and the retirements of Robert Handy and Martin Marty from the classroom, Mark Noll has surely become our leading teacher-historian of American Christianity. George Marsden may be his superior in charting the history of American fundamentalism and the Christian . . . . Continue Reading »
How Now Shall We Live?by charles colson and nancy pearceytyndale, 580 pages, $22.99 In 1993, when Washington Post writer Michael Weisskopf issued his notorious declaration that evangelicals are “largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command,” conservative Protestant intellectuals were quick to . . . . Continue Reading »
In the March issue of First Things , Benton Johnson, Dean R. Hoge, and Donald A. Luidens addressed the question of the decline of mainline churches. One basic question, however, remains unanswered, namely, how do we deal with the issue of truth in a pluralistic society? In other words, after the . . . . Continue Reading »
With Liberty and Justice for Whom? The Recent Evangelical Debate Over Capitalism by Craig M. Gay, foreword by Peter L. Berger Eerdmans, 276 pages, $19.95 Recently the local news reported on a Wisconsin environmental initiative. School children were sent into prairie fields to gather seeds from the . . . . Continue Reading »
Exploring the influence of televangelism on American religion in his book The Struggle for America’s Soul, Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow presents a typical, though hypothetical, case study: Mabel Miller. Mabel lives alone, thousands of miles from her family. She grew up in a . . . . Continue Reading »
The Democratization of American Christianity by nathan hatch yale university press, 312 pages, $25 In 1802 a flamboyant Baptist preacher named John Leland presented a twelve-hundred pound “mammoth cheese” to Thomas Jefferson at a White House ceremony. Molded in a cider press from the milk of . . . . Continue Reading »