“She begins the story, appropriately, with the 18th-century revivals of the First Great Awakening, the birthplace of American evangelicalism. She demonstrates that from the beginning the movement was primarily religious and theological, with political overtones, and quite diverse.”   I first encountered Frances FitzGerald in the 1970s when I read her Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the Vietnam... Continue Reading

“For centuries, the Dutch knew just who they were: mostly blond- or red-haired, blue-eyed, white, straight-talking, Calvinist capitalists who believed in God, family, hard work, and doing the right thing. Looking around, a Dutchman saw himself in his neighbors, and that was reassuring.”   Here is a good overview of what taking every square inch... Continue Reading

One local pastor described these conferences as “very necessary for the increase of knowledge to all ministers.” The archdeacon of Essex, John Walker, said that there was in these events “an increase in learning, and edifying of the people to have grown thereby.”   “Post-Christian” is just one of the many titles being used these... Continue Reading

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a good time to honor the many brave souls who shared their experiences with me. These are brothers and sisters in Christ who have suffered. By attending to their stories, listening to them and believing them, we honor them. As a professor, I like to use Facebook as an... Continue Reading

This isn’t the first time Briarwood’s effort to form a police force has been endorsed by both houses of Alabama’s Legislature. As The Associated Press reports, a similar bill that was approved last year eventually failed after then-Gov. Robert Bentley didn’t sign it into law. A large church in Alabama is one step closer to... Continue Reading

According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular observatory based in Frankfurt, Germany, 80 per cent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians. Statistically speaking, that makes Christians by far the most persecuted religious body on the planet.   At least 36 people have died in... Continue Reading

The covenant refers to the Bible as “the infallible Word of God and fully authoritative in matters of life and conduct …” and spells out behavior to avoid, such as sexual immorality and “sinful attitudes and behaviors.” It also affirms the “worth of every human being from conception to death.”   MONTREAT, N.C. – Some employees at Montreat... Continue Reading

Those polled were also asked whether or not they believed in some kind of life after death. Forty-six percent of said they did while another 46 percent said they did not. Options of life after death in the survey included reincarnation, Heaven, and Hell, and others like “we go to a parallel universe/the astral plane... Continue Reading

Yes, Christians evangelized cities in early Christianity, but not only cities.  In fact, there is quite a bit of (overlooked) historical evidence that the earliest Christians had a robust mission to the countryside. Indeed, Robinson argues that, numerically speaking, most early Christians might have actually been rural and not urban.   One of the wonderful... Continue Reading

Leaders who ignore rebukes and corrections must not be ignored. A common thread in the stories of fallen ministry leaders is that when people called them on their drifting, they ignored the rebukes and corrections. When a leader ignores correction, others must not ignore their shunning of correction. God is merciful to us to provide... Continue Reading