On Evangelicalism and History

Two recent posts on evangelicals and history.

The first is a response by Scot McKnight to an article about Al Mohler’s comments about evangelicals leaving evangelicalism. Here is the last line:

My own research (in Finding Faith, Losing Faith) on why evangelicals become Catholic revealed some crises were created when evangelicals discovered the minefield called church history and, in particular, the patristic era.

The second is from Carl Trueman’s observations about McKnight’s post. Here’s part of what he says:

A Protestantism which fails to acknowledge those historical roots and indeed to teach them to its young people leaves itself vulnerable to Canterbury and Rome. There is an historical dimension to Christianity which is important and which needs to be an integral part of pedagogy and discipleship.

Important points all.

 

Radical Interpretations

I’m sure this conference on radical interpretations of the Bible would be interesting. It’s free, so if someone would just cough up travel expenses…OK, not going to happen.

Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus

The intersection between Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Harlem Renaissance. It sounds very interesting…

Teaching Theology

I would like to have this kind of impact on my students. I liked this bit:

Maybe theology was more an art than a science. What if story and poetry and mystery and beauty were the grammar of our study in addition to defining terms and introducing information? What if worship was the result of my reading and our class discussion, and not just the ability to create tidy outlines and careful categories?

China

Because of my many Chinese friends, I’ve been interested in the future of Christianity there. Here’s some interesting analysis.

What we need

I think this is about right:

Maybe what we need is need fewer books, and more friendships, fewer abstract principles and more applied principles. We need to be less willing to say, “Read this and call me in the morning” and more “Walk with me and I’ll show you. Come into my home and watch. Come into my life and see.”

It’s hard for us book guys to see, but I’ve been trying to think fewer books more something else as well.

Shocking Beliefs of C.S. Lewis

As a follow up to the doodle, here’s a post of some of the “shocking” beliefs of Lewis. Not to those of us who have read him a bit, but to many.

Religion and Science

A fun “doodle” presentation of C.S. Lewis’ discussion of science and religion from God in the Dock.

On picking teams

My son benefited from his RUF experience, but even if he hadn’t, I appreciated the spirit in this post by Tom Cannon (who is the new PCA coordinator, I assume – I didn’t check on the vote!). People were asking if he was on the team, and here is part of his response:

I am on the team that believes the PCA’s existence and survival is incidental to the work of the Kingdom. 

We could use more of that thinking!

More on homosexuality

A report on a recent conversation between Rob Bell and Andrew Wilson, who are on somewhat different sides of the debate. With some commentary.