And here I signal my last worry about the way the rhetoric of “countercultural” has functioned within the evangelical world. By drawing our energy out of the opposition to the world—by thriving in the embattlement—we tend to foreclose the possibility that we could win, finally and decisively, the very cultural struggle we are waging. ByContinue reading “Thriving in the Embattlement: Should Christians Be “Countercultural”?”
Category Archives: Evangelical Anxieties
A Response to Owen Strachan on Cultural Courage
Owen Strachan has written a piece at his blog thoughtlife called “Cultural Capitulation to Homosexuality is Not Courageous.” Strachan is Assistant Professor of Christian Theology and Church History at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as the President of the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood. Those connections tell you pretty much what you need to know aboutContinue reading “A Response to Owen Strachan on Cultural Courage”
#1 Reason Why Church Attendance Is Down – Really?
No, the number one reason why church attendance is down is not pizza. I did think however, that the story of a fictional iMonk pizzeria might help us understand the flaws in the stated reason and proposed solutions that are detailed later on in the post. Imagine you are a neighborhood pizzeria owner. As theContinue reading “#1 Reason Why Church Attendance Is Down – Really?”
The Church, Youth, and Sex – Did I Report It Wrong?
I am a huge Ed Stetzer fan. I follow a grand total of 14 people on twitter, and he is one of them. Ed, by the way, has 125,000 following him! So who is Ed Stetzer? Here is his bio in Christianity Today: Ed Stetzer is the President of LifeWay Research Division, a prolific author,Continue reading “The Church, Youth, and Sex – Did I Report It Wrong?”
What Hill Are You Willing To Die On?
Thanks for a good discussion. Comments now closed. Since I wrote last week about the World Vision decisions on their hiring policy, a number of writers have contributed their thoughts to the issue. One post by Tony Campolo generated an interesting bit of discussion on facebook among a couple of my friends. Tony wrote: IContinue reading “What Hill Are You Willing To Die On?”
Ashamed!
Let me be clear. This post is not about homosexuality. This post is not about what the Bible does or does not say about the topic. This post is not about the rightness or wrongness of the decision of World Vision USA to open up employment to those in same-sex marriages. This post is notContinue reading “Ashamed!”
One Foot In The Wilderness
Michael Spencer kept looking over his shoulder. He was willing to express views that were not popular among others of his denomination and he expressed concern that there were individuals out there who were looking for opportunities to “report” him to the administrators at the school where he worked. I got a real sense ofContinue reading “One Foot In The Wilderness”
Randy Thompson: The Sky Is Always Falling
The Sky Is Always Falling by Randy Thompson “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” (Alphonse Karr) The other day I went up to the local garage to have our mechanic switch our car’s regular tires over to snow tires—a winter ritual for many of us here in New Hampshire. While waiting,Continue reading “Randy Thompson: The Sky Is Always Falling”
Am I an Evangelical?
How do I describe myself as a Christian? Am I an Evangelical? Can I call myself anything else? Let me give you a bit of background. I have attended seventeen different churches in my life. Each for a period of at least one year. Sixteen of them I attended since the age of eleven. FourteenContinue reading “Am I an Evangelical?”
Redefining “Persecution”
Good words from Rachel Held Evans on the myth that Christians are being persecuted today in the United States: There are indeed Christians being persecuted around the world. There are Christians who break the law by gathering together for church, Christians whose family members have been executed for their beliefs, Christians who have been imprisonedContinue reading “Redefining “Persecution””
The Internet Monk Archives 