Theology

The vanquishment of death through suffering: But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish … Read more

A common caricature of the evangelical Christian is that of a poorly-educated, narrow-minded buffoon who just isn’t clued in enough to understand the greater meaning of things in the world. After all, who with any intellect at all would believe in such outmoded things as absolute truth, creationism, and the inerrancy of Scripture? Clifford Orwin, … Read more

ABC continues its facsination with the historical Jesus tonight with “Jesus and Paul: The Word and the Witness,” and as Matt Hall rightly observes, the list of scholars for the show is lacking. This doesn’t come as surprise that ABC would get the usual suspects to debunk traditional understandings—every show they do seems to have … Read more

A good friend of mine sends out a periodic email entitled, “Bad Church Sign of the Week.” It’s a rather hilarious compendium of trite phrases gone bad. Most of them try to be clever—something to make you think. Usually, that’s as far as it goes. No one really tries to make a deep theological point … Read more

Two good articles this week on the arts: First, there’s Gene Edward Veith’s WORLD Magazine piece that contrasts the meaningless art of today with the capacity for beauty that’s inherent in a Christian view of art. Second, there’s this interview with Image Journal publisher Gregory Wolfe: Christians have been tempted to say, well, pop culture … Read more

That’s right, if your teenager doesn’t seem interested in the Bible, just give him a copy of “Refuel,” a Bible-zine aimed at teen-age boys. It looks like a really cool magazine with the album cover from Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing on it, but open it up…and SURPRISE! It’s a Bible! Your teen will be … Read more

Russell Moore on the dilution of children’s Sunday school programs: So many evangelical children’s Sunday school classes are translating biblical texts into a baptized version of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood of Make-Believe. Jesus’ calling of the twelve is about the fact that “Jesus had friends.” Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and the fish is about the … Read more

I tried to watch ABC’s Judas tonight. I tried. After about five minutes, I felt the need to surf the internet. I turned it on in the background, to hear qotes like this: JUDAS: We need to fight for what is rightfully ours! JESUS: Nothing is rightfully ours except the unconditional love of my father. … Read more

Stephen Prothero observes that the American Protestant perception of Jesus may be changing: Since the evangelical century of the 1800’s, America’s Protestant majority has gravitated toward a Mister Rogers Jesus, a neighborly fellow they could know and love and imitate. The country’s megachurches got that way in part because they stopped preaching fire and brimstone … Read more