We were doing an interview on an NPR station, a kind of “point-counterpoint” thing. The other interviewee was a self-identified agnostic , and the topic was the rights of academic institutions to “discriminate” on the basis of religious beliefs. My dialogue partner was not overtly hostile to religion as such. Indeed he said some nice things about the school where I was president at the time. Fuller Seminary produces some excellent scholarship based on our religious convictions, he observed. But why do we hire only folks who subscribe to those convictions? Having religious beliefs is fine, he said. But for institutions to hire only faculty who subscribe to those beliefs is contrary to the principles of academic inquiry. Continue Reading »
A recent exchange between Rusty Reno and Andrew Haines has played back into previous exchanges between George Weigel (here and here), John Cavadini, and Aaron Taylor. Thanks to the folks at Ethika Politika, these exchanges keep swirling around Weigel’s vision of an Evangelical Catholicism and the ecumenism it promotes as part of the path forward. Continue Reading »
Why is Calvinism so influential among American Evangelicals while
Lutheranism is not?
We might describe the statistically modal convert to Calvinism—that is,
the most frequently observed kind of convert—as a person like this: A
young adult, usually male. Raised in a broad though indistinct
Evangelical (and sometimes nominally Catholic) home. Bright. A reader.
Searching for better intellectual answers to questions about God, Jesus
and the Bible. Is open to becoming a pastor. Why does this young man so
much more often become a Calvinist instead a Lutheran? Continue Reading »
Dabblers are compelled by their very dabbling to disdain those who will not dabble and who persist in believing the truth claims of one particular religion. Continue Reading »
A few words before you watch this video.1. The point is obvious, and it’s been said before, but to see it in this high production value should make you at least be happy that the point is also going mainstream.2. The stunning irony of this video is that it comes from North Point Media — . . . . Continue Reading »
Just to keep things interesting, I’m posting my response to JMR on the front page here. I thank him for his engagement on this issue, even if he is actually wrong about a lot of things.I think the heart of our disagreement is the Bible and how to read it.I think that’s unquestionably . . . . Continue Reading »
In his current Evangel bio, Frank Turk lists one of his pastimes as “internet mayhem.” As evidenced by the current offense taken to him by Mark Olsen and various commenters at Evangel, he obviously hasn’t lost his spiritual gift in that matter. However, as he read through . . . . Continue Reading »
It’s stupid to even entertain the question. But every time I see it posed, it isn’t for getting people to focus on issues instead of remaining blind devotees to political parties. Intentional or not, it often serves as a way to distract people from important issues that do deserve our . . . . Continue Reading »
So I was reading John Mark Reynolds’ live-blog of Sarah Palin’s new memoir, and I’m sure he’s right about the whole thing. The only conservative writers I can stand for more than 900 words once a week in a column are William F. Buckley and P.J. O’Rourke — and . . . . Continue Reading »
As usual I’m late to the party. Joe and I have been friends for several years now and in honor of our friendship I changed e-mail addresses and didn’t let him know. So, we’ve finally caught up and today I join this august body of bloggers, feeling way in over my head, . . . . Continue Reading »
