Defections from evangelical churches and parachurch organizations continue apace. Where it used to be mainline churches hemorrhaging worshippers, as discouraged congregants went in search of a faithful gospel ministry, now it is evangelicals facing the numbers crunch. "Doom, Boom, and Gloom" is the name of a popular financial report, but it could just as easily […]
People grow weary of evangelicalism all the time, and in what follows we give ear to several ex-evangelicals as they tell their stories and give their reasons. Listening is an important aspect of apologetics. It’s important not to rush into a defense of the faith without knowing first what issues are at stake—not if we […]
There are all sorts of absurdities in every church, in every tradition. In Roman Catholicism, for example, one still finds the sale of indulgences. It wasn't just Tetzel five hundred years ago; in 2008 to 2009 Pope Benedict XVI issued indulgences again. In fact, it's interesting to note that he did so for the "Year […]
Father Peter Gilquist is chair of the Department of Missions and Evangelism for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, a branch of the worldwide Orthodox Church. He also publishes Again magazine, a periodical for Orthodox concern, and has written an interesting book entitled Becoming Orthodox. He also was involved with the production of the Orthodox Study […]
I grew up in a fundamentalist "Bible church" that loved God and had a clear desire to serve him, but I questioned why my church was so isolated from other Christians. By the time I graduated from high school I found something in the more historical faith of Reformed Presbyterianism, but I still wondered what […]
When trying to understand something, knowing its context is critical. This is true of the Bible. It is also true for leaders. Thus, as a person connected to the phenomenon of the emerging church, I would like to tell a little bit of my story and make some observations from it as a way of […]
I came out of fundamentalism and am now a very liberal Episcopalian, but am also still interested in Emergent evangelicalism. What personally intrigues me about Emergents is their ability to question, and the open communities of people who can authentically struggle in a way that we couldn't in my fundamentalist church. I had questions about […]
I wasn't raised in a religious home at all; my folks were what you would call a-religious. In the early 1970s when I was in high school, the whole born-again Jesus movement was going, and I got swept up into that. I was hardcore. I went to Bible study classes, I led Bible study classes, […]
I was raised in a Christian home and, apart from my high school years, was a serious Christian until I was about thirty-four. I graduated from a small Bible college, was a youth pastor, and taught many Bible studies and classes at churches I attended. I was always interested in Christian apologetics and sharing my […]
Common Objection 1: “I’m a Good Person” How good are you really? Many people will answer this question by unloading their laundry lists of volunteer activities, 501 (c) (3) donations, parenting skills, or anything else that presents them as a good person. In Christian terms, we might call this outwardly following God’s law. When Jesus […]
Diana Butler Bass opined in The Huffington Post that "one of the most significant trends in American religion is 'switching': people who grew up in one religion and changed to another." (1) I've never really thought of myself as a trendsetter, but I was on board with this whole switching thing as far back as […]
Never had I experienced anything so tough. I could hardly eat, had trouble sleeping, and was continually battling nausea. I felt at the absolute end of myself. It was the summer of 2009, the low point in the most challenging and difficult year of my life. Then, at the end of June, as we always […]
Growing up in evangelicalism, I was one of those kids who felt mediocre at meetings where ex-drug addicts gave their "testimony" of suddenly losing their craving for LSD. My grandmother used to speak of two groups of Christians: those who were "saved," and those who were "gloriously saved." Everything a good, clean Baptist youth is […]
Scott Hahn has written a useful volume for the academic community with a well-researched book on the subject of covenant. The final product of years of sustained labor and reflection, this is a reworking of Hahn's doctoral dissertation and will be of immense interest to all students of the Bible, professional and otherwise, because it […]
My father is very into gender roles; so much so that it was one of the first things he taught my younger brother. When Mark made the mistake of opening the door to a restaurant and sauntered in without waiting for our mother, Dad ensured this never happened again. To this day, Mark opens all […]
