Category: Evangelicalism
We Don’t Need Revival
“We need revival.” ~The Teeming Masses This phrase, ubiquitous among broad evangelicals, has transmogrified from banal cliche to axiomatic mantra. Having been chanted with such frequency that there is virtually no quarter among popular Christianity where it doesn’t reverberate, it...
Can Justice Be Saved? Part Two: On Faith
Christians can't embrace all aspects of contemporary ideas of social justice. But we must also recognize that what came before was similarly dangerous.
The Church of Individualism
Mark Sayers defines secularism as the pursuit of “the fruits of the Kingdom without the King.” It’s a beautifully succinct summary of a culture with a historical amnesia of it’s once-upon-a-time countercultural Christian foundations built to support the social virtues...
American Evangelicalism isn’t patriarchal or feminized. It’s matrilineal.
For many years, researchers have pondered the growing absence of men in conservative Protestant churches, especially evangelical churches. In fact, losing men has been a problem for Christian denominations since the late 19th century, which ushered in the era of...
J. I. Packer: Catechetical Theologian
Funny how it hits you when a beloved teacher dies. Almost unbidden, a passel of images, emotions, and memories of moments spent together remind you of the enduring impact that person’s words, deeds, and character had upon you. The effect...
Against Evangelical Minimalism
For all the criticism of evangelical opulence – it’s palatial megachurches and crass prosperity gospel – the truth is that most evangelical churches remain humble and relatively small. One 2017 analysis of Lifeway data showed that the overwhelming majority of...
How Then Shall We Converse?
Since 2008, Q, an organization that sponsors conferences and frames itself as a Christian version of TED, has hosted lectures, interviews, and debates between cultural leaders, pastors, and other educators. Their goal? “See the Christian faith become increasingly attractive, credible,...
Reasonable Service: What the PCA’s Latest Controversy Says about Its Understanding of Outreach, Evangelism, and Ethics
Earlier this month, members of the Presbyterian Church in America learned that one of their congregations had allowed a theatre production titled “Transluminate: A Celebration of Transgender, Agender, Non-Binary, Genderqueer and Genderfluid Artists” to be held at one of its...
The Hidden Transubstantiation of Contemporary Worship
In countless churches across America’s denominational landscape, contemporary worship practices have won the day in the name of cultural relevance and stylistic preference. But inherent in contemporary worship is a dangerous dichotomy of style and substance that if not remedied,...
The Mystique of the Pro-Life Movement: On Trump and the March for Life
Several years ago Matthew Lee Anderson wrote in these pages that there is no pro-life case for Donald Trump. In many ways the argument has not aged well—Anderson was deeply skeptical that Trump would make good on his promise to...