Evangelicalsm yesterday helps us embrace the label today.
Is it time to abandon the label evangelical?
It’s a question we have been asking for years. But especially after this election, many Christians who have long identified as evangelicals—as well as millennials who grew up in our congregations—consider the label evangelical irreparably toxic. Both inside and outside the church, it has come to caricature a Religious Right sensibility, and worse, a group who are homophobic, a
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History Shows Us Why Being Evangelical Matters
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Maamoul: The Easter Sweet Loved by Muslims, Christians, and Jews
Experts debate the origin of the date- or nut-filled pastry, but Middle Eastern believers love the taste and the Good Friday symbolism in its shapes.The Middle East’s favorite sweet symbolizes Good Friday.Maamoul is a buttery cookie baked with semolina and stuffed with dates or nuts—usually walnuts or pistachios. Seasoned with a variety of spices, for centuries it has flavored the Easter holiday for Christians, the end of Ramadan for Muslims, and Purim for the Sephardic Jews of Jerus -
‘Christ Is King’ Is Not the Slogan Some White Nationalists Want It to Be
Jesus’ lordship is not good news for those who want to use him to become kings themselves.This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here.If you’re one of the very-online white nationalists who decided during Holy Week to claim the hashtag “Christ is king” as an antisemitic troll, I’ve got what might seem to you to be both good news and bad news.The good news: Christ is king. The bad news: He’s a Jew. The even worse news: He&r -
Good Friday’s Answers to Wounded Church Members
Christ’s crucified body holds the pain experienced by the church body.I serve as a priest in an Anglican church in Dallas, and I have the privilege and responsibility of pastoring many people who have experienced pain at the hands of a church. Some in our congregation have been outright abused. Some have had their faith shaken by the fall of a leader. Some have been pushed out of congregations for asking legitimate questions.And while church hurt may not always be the best term to name and -
Singing About Jesus’ Blood Is Weird, But We Do It Anyway
Even if Elevation’s Easter invites don’t spotlight the Crucifixion, it remains central to their worship.
I still remember the crunchy, dissonant chords coming through the speakers of my music history classroom and the repetition of the phrase, “Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”We were studying Charles Ives’s modern American art song about the founder of the Salvation Army—“General William Booth Enters into Heaven”—and even as I tried -
The Story of Jesus Christ Is a True Myth
Every year, we celebrate a dying and rising God who fulfills the hopes of ages past.If you’ve ever attended a liturgical church during Holy Week, you’ve likely recited the Apostles’ Creed—a confession that affirms the climactic events of Jesus’ life.At the heart of this confession, between the phrases “was crucified, died, and was buried” and “on the third day he rose again from the dead,” you’ll find the mysterious (and some might say -
A Theologian’s Vision of ‘Peasant’ Politics Is Surprisingly Lordly in Scope
Ephraim Radner’s “narrow” concern for protecting the mundane goods of earthly life isn’t so narrow after all.Around 15 years ago, as part of my first or second job out of college, I was sent to serve as the token young person at a lunch hosted by some boutique Washington think tank. The topic of conversation was the “good life” and how best to secure it in a rapidly changing world. Most attendees were in their twilight years, temperamentally and politically co -
Shoes Stay On for Maundy Thursday
Few Protestant traditions continue the footwashing that Jesus did at the Last Supper. Some want a revival of the practice.Americans get cold feet when it comes to footwashing, experts say.Maundy Thursday is a Holy Week service marking the Last Supper. In some faith traditions, that service has included footwashing from the example in John 13, where Jesus washes his disciples’ feet during the supper and says, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should w -
A World Without Easter
Everything is different because Jesus rose again. But do we live as if we understand he is alive?In the summer of 2022, I visited the charming Alpine town of Oberammergau, Germany. I wandered its leafy streets lined with mural-painted houses, their balconies overflowing with flower boxes.After indulging in ice cream and shopping for the town’s famed woodcarvings, I settled in my seat for a five-and-a-half-hour performance of Jesus’ final week on earth. Since 1634, Oberammergau has pu -
Praying in the Shadow of Gethsemane
What Jesus’ midnight prayer in the garden tells us about cosmic conflict in the supernatural realm.“Father, if it is your will, please heal your servant; yet not our will, but yours be done.” As a child, I recall hearing this kind of prayer and feeling deeply puzzled. If it is your will? I thought. Why wouldn’t it be God’s will to heal his servant?Such prayers are not theologically incorrect—they echo the words of Christ himself and, rightly understood, believ -
How the Gaucho Stole Easter in Uruguay
More than 100 years ago, Latin America’s most-secular country abolished Christian holidays. Local church leaders have struggled to reclaim them sinceThis week, millions of Latin Americans are attending worship services observing Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.In Uruguay, they are going to the rodeo.While their Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking neighbors mark the death and resurrection of Christ, locals from the country of 3.3 million are celebrating Semana Crio -
The Myth Behind the Meaning of Paul’s Words on Women and Childbearing
Sandra Glahn studies the record of an Ephesian goddess to aid our reading of a challenging passage.As a female New Testament scholar, I simply do not have the luxury of avoiding 1 Timothy 2:11–15, where Paul, after stating that women should “learn in quietness and full submission,” claims they “will be saved through childbearing.” The “saved through childbearing” verse has been quoted to me by more strangers and (possibly) well-meaning acquaintances than -
How One Indonesian Church Is Fighting Food Insecurity
In the village of Kemadang, long dry spells threatened local farmers’ livelihoods until a church-led granary brought hope.Standing in her rice field in the rural village of Kemadang along the southern coast of Java, 53-year-old Marni Mariani pointed to the dry soil at her feet. “This is the land that we will harvest in three weeks,” she said. Yet due to the lack of rain this season, two of her four rice fields have already failed.She noted that she doesn’t sell the rice h -
From Passion to the Pews, Major Conferences Inspire Local Worship
Arena events serve as the proving grounds for new music.The 2024 Passion conference opened with a countdown video. The crowd of 55,000 students packed into Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta cheered with anticipation. What would the first song be? Who would lead it?What was the Holy Spirit about to do?Flashing lights and a drum track led into the opening of Elevation Worship’s “Praise,” with the chant, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Worship artist B -
Why Character Doesn’t Matter Anymore
The “cheerful prudery” of Ned Flanders has given way to vulgarity, misogyny, and partisanship. What does this mean for our witness?This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here.I guess Ned Flanders goes to strip clubs now.Until this week, I hadn’t thought about the caricatured born-again Christian neighbor on the animated series The Simpsons in a long time. New York Times religion reporter Ruth Graham mentioned him and his “cheerful prudery& -
Southern Baptists Finally Name New Executive Committee President
Seminary head Jeff Iorg steps in after multiple resignations, failed searches, and back-to-back interim leaders.
After more than two years of uncertainty and at times, chaos, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee has a new president.At a special meeting in Dallas, members of the committee—which oversees the work of the 13 million-member denomination in between its annual meetings—unanimously elected Jeff Iorg as its new president and CEO. The meeting was held in -
Must Social Service Providers Nix Their Faith to Receive Federal Funds?
Rather than follow the equal protections secured in Supreme Court decisions, the Biden administration opted for a complicated and soul-killing alternative.Nine federal departments have issued new regulations governing social service grants for a range of programs including drug rehabilitation; assisting penitentiary inmates reentering their communities; sheltering the homeless; aiding needy families with dependent children; settling refugees; and providing overseas lifesaving aid in response to -
Why Every Day This Week Is Holy
Christians should celebrate from Palm to Easter Sunday—and everything in between.As a child, my twin and I would often stage elaborate bake-offs during the school holidays. One year, I made an Easter cake with three chocolate crosses and a crown of thorns. I drowned these elements in large pools of jammy blood.Sure, it was gratuitously gruesome—and I’m not surprised my sister’s saccharine fluffy chick cupcakes were the favored choice. But from an early age, I have shirked -
Make the Internet Modest Again
We gained an audience but overexposed our souls.Ten years ago, I published my first book. Like many of my peers, my work draws from personal experience and uses elements of memoir. After all, I became a writer in the heyday of confessional blogging when Glennon Doyle and Jen Hatmaker were writing from their kitchen tables about the struggles of domestic life and womanhood. The first blog I ever read described the pain of childbirth in all its gory detail.But that openness is nothing compared to -
Fasting from Food in a Land of Plenty
Abstaining from eating confronts the cultural lies we believe about our bodies.I stood frozen in the cereal aisle. On either side of me were thousands of boxes and bags of breakfast grains stretched out row after row, in scores of varieties: Vitamin fortified! Extra marshmallows! Cinnamon clusters with organic wheat germ for twice your daily fiber!For the past four and a half years, I’d been living in another country, limited to the street of local food vendors near my house. I’d wal -
Let’s Not Give Up Meetings on the Church Calendar
What if we ordered our habitual gatherings around Christ and the gospel story more than twice a year?This is the time of year when we pause our calendars to make space to celebrate Holy Week—rehearsing the gospel events leading up to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.For centuries, Christians have followed a church calendar to mark seasons and special days honoring Jesus and the gospel: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time (which mark -
As Freedoms Shrink in Hong Kong, One Christian Media Editor Explains Why He Stays
Christian journalism has become even more important after the government passed a tough new national security law.Editor’s Note: Hong Kong officials unanimously passed its own version of a national security law Tuesday that could put people found guilty of political crimes, such as treason or external interference, in prison for life.
Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, mandates the enactment of a national security law, which locals have protested in the past -
Honey, We Shrunk the Family
Timothy P. Carney’s Family Unfriendly explores plunging American fertility and how to get out of the baby bust.In 204 B.C., the Romans imported a new foreign cult. When the barge bringing the cult statue to Rome got stuck in the shallow waters of the Tiber, an aristocratic young woman, Claudia Quinta, miraculously pulled the rope to draw it in single-handedly. As her name tells us, she was the fifth daughter in her family.The reason this story first stood out to me years ago is the same re -
Who Restricts Religion More, Politicians or the People? Pew Crunched the Global Data.
Annual report grades 198 nations and territories, with 9 in 10 harassing believing communities. China and Nigeria score the worst.
Government restrictions on religion are at a global high.Social hostility toward religion, however, has ticked downward.So concludes the Pew Research Center in its 14th annual analysis of the extent to which 198 nations and territories—and their citizens—impinge on religious belief and practice.Some sort of harassment of religious groups was recorded in a -
Metaphors Have a Power That’s More Than Metaphorical
Joy Clarkson peels back the veil of overfamiliarity from commonplace expressions and images.I’m afraid these men would only slow me down,” says a cocksure Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of the godfather of computer science, Alan Turing. A 2014 biopic, The Imitation Game, portrays Turing as a lonely, world-changing genius who reluctantly takes on help from less intelligent colleagues who’d only threaten his efficiency and from whom he has to hide secrets that threaten his clea -
Died: Michael Knott, Christian Alternative Musician Who Helped Launch Tooth & Nail
Knott wrote rock operas, sang with honesty and conviction, called out hypocrites, and bucked the norms of the Christian music industry.Michael Knott, whose music and influence helped cultivate the Christian alternative music scene of the 1990s and 2000s, died Tuesday at the age of 61. He is survived by his daughter, Stormie Fraser.Knott was the founder of the label Blonde Vinyl and later collaborated with Brandon Ebel to launch the highly influential Tooth & Nail Records, known for bands lik -
Will ‘Complementarianism’ Survive?
I want to continue to call myself a complementarian. But we need to reclaim the term.Is there a future for complementarianism? I don’t mean whether the God-ordained concept of complementarity between men and women will itself continue to exist—those of us who hold to the principle of equality and distinction between men and women understand it to be grounded in Scripture itself. Rather, I’m speaking of complementarianism as a specific movement, a coherent framing of some of tho -
Passover’s Promises for My Children
When I married into a Jewish family, antisemitism hit home. Now, the holy day reminds me of our future hope.On October 7, 2023, my mother-in-law called.“Have you seen the news?” she asked urgently. “Terrorists have attacked Israel. Where are the kids? Are they at home with you? Can you keep them home from school this week?”She knows antisemitism all too well. Her husband is a Jew who traces his lineage back to the tribe of Levi. His ancestors immigrated to America from Po -
Heaven Isn’t Our Eternal Escape from Work
Only on our best days do we get a glimpse of the joyful labor to come.There’s an old saying regarding work: “Find something you love to do, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”It’s a nice idea—albeit a tall order to achieve. Some jobs are harder to love than others, and even the most meaningful work can exhaust or frustrate us. Our relationships with work can be complicated; even the most diligent among us succumb to quitting fantasies from time to time. -
Complementarian at Home, Egalitarian at Church? Paul Would Approve.
The biggest New Testament passages on gender roles may have more to do with marriage than ministry.Christianity Today once featured a cartoon depicting the apostle Paul arriving at Corinth and saying rather meekly, “I see you received my letter.” Greeting him on the road is an angry mob of women holding placards reading “Women of Corinth unite” and “Paul the apostle is a male chauvinist pig.” It is an amusing picture, but its sentiment is far from the truth. F
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