George Reid has “A Note about Easter” at the Adventist Review. My letter to the editor in response: George Reid’s commentary, “A Note about Easter,” overlooks some facts. First, for much of the Christian world, the day is not called “Easter,” but Pascua (Spanish), Pasqua (Italian), Pâques (French), Páscoa (Portuguese), Pasen (Dutch), Pascha (Greek), Pascha…
In the eyes of many, the book of Revelation is a strange volume of beasts and war and tribulation and pestilence. But it begins with these words: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it…
Lee Podles has a couple of moving reflections. Grinding the Faces of the Oppressed, on the attempt of some deaf victims of abuse to obtain justice, and Vatican Corruption.
Whenever earthquakes topple cities, famines or civil wars decimate populations, or weather patterns are disrupted, then it is that the world, grasping for adequate words to name the horror, turns to the Bible. Then it is that newspaper headlines warn of “apocalypse” and “Armageddon”—or variations thereof. So it shouldn’t be surprising that President Obama referred…
Southern Baptist Albert Mohler is rejoicing in the “good news” that has come down from the 9th Circuit: there is no “religious significance” to paying bills with coins that say, “In God We Trust,” and no “theological or ritualistic impact” to saying, “One Nation, Under God.” He says, The court has ruled, in effect, that…
That’s what the Vatican is recommending, on the dubious grounds that 8 minutes is “a listener’s average attention span.”
Someone recently asked my thoughts on the “New Perspective on Paul.” I have to chuckle whenever I hear the phrase, “New Perspective.” We were reading Krister Stendahl’s “Paul among Jews and Gentiles” in New Testament courses at Atlantic Union College nearly 30 years ago! (And Sanders, and Wright, and Dunn …) I haven’t written anything…
Herb is writing about the New Spirituality Movement in evangelicalism (and Adventism) at Adventist Today. He suggests “Seeker-friendly churches, such as Willow Creek and Saddleback, will join the New Spirituality wave or fade”–and the same for those Adventist churches that have modeled themselves on Willow Creek. He links to several Christianity Today articles and says,…
Yes, I changed the name again. I’ve done that a few times. I have thought about the title, “Advent Hope,” for four years … and wondered what I might do graphically. As you’ll see, I decided to go with an Adventist theme, a tagline from a Lutheran collect, and an illustration from a Catholic painting.…
Inside the Vatican magazine and Thomas More College are sponsoring a forum on Mariology, addressing the question of whether the Catholic church should proclaim a fifth Marian dogma, namely, that she is Co-redemptrix and Mediatrix of all graces. Presently, the Church has proclaimed four dogmas regarding the Mother of Jesus: (1) her maternal role in…
“The Book of Kells” is an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels. It’s a thoroughly Christian book (it is the Gospels, after all!). But that doesn’t seem to matter to Tomm Moore, who made a fanciful cartoon last year, called The Secret of Kells. Moore has apparently ripped the book from its Christian reality and turned…
It was fifty years ago this September that John F. Kennedy spoke to some ministers in Houston: I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for…
The elders of Ecclesia, a church in the Montrose area of Houston, vetoed display in their art gallery of a photograph submitted by a 10 year old boy for a series of “Stations of the Cross” (see also Jill Carroll’s commentary). In the photo, the boy’s younger brother plays Jesus–and the Roman soldier beating him…
Houston mayor Annise Parker has called for a “Census Sabbath” this weekend, asking religious leaders to proclaim her message of the necessity of filling out census forms. As a pastor, when I teach about church/state relations, I affirm our obligation to be good citizens, to give Caesar the things that belong to him. Obeying the…
Pax et bonum 