Christian Ethicist’s LGBT Assessment — The Associated Baptist Press has been running a series on Christianity and LGBT issues by David Gushee. Gushee is a an ethicist at Mercer University. His intent is to “provide some helpful commentary for others who might like to get beyond avoidism and move toward some convictional clarity” using a […]
Leaving Nineveh: The Last Days of Christians in Mosul
Leaving Nineveh: The Last Days of Christians in Mosul — Would Christians happily forsake Assisi or Canterbury or Cologne? Mosul’s story is at least equal to that of any of these later upstarts, says Philip Jenkins, professor of history at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion.
The Evangelical Academy
The Evangelical Academy — “Rather quickly over the past few years,” says Richard Mouw, “the question of the right of religious institutions to ‘discriminate’ on the basis of religious convictions has become an urgent topic for many of us.” Yet Jesuit colleges such as the Loyolas host plenty of non-Jesuit profs. Evangelical academic institutions are […]
More on Health Care Sharing Ministries
More on Health Care Sharing Ministries — Apart from recent ACA disputes and court decisions, a little-known 4-year-old provision in the nation’s health care law allows for Americans to opt out of the insurance mandate if they object on religious grounds.
Losing Religion at College? New Study Says Otherwise
Losing Religion at College? New Study Says Otherwise — A college degree used to mean people were more likely to lose religion. Now, some lose religion whether they went to college or not but it’s especially true for those who didn’t go to college. It’s the least-educated members of Gen X who are “most likely to […]
Executive Order on Sexual and Gender Identity
Executive Order on Sexual and Gender Identity — Constitutional Law Professor Douglas Laycock overviews the status of Executive Order 11246, Title VII, the RFRA, pending court actions, and what all these may mean for religious liberty.
Robert Barnes: Martyr Caught Between the Kingdoms
Robert Barnes: Martyr Caught Between the Kingdoms — This 20 min. audio clip from Matt Phillips is an interesting introduction to the early Lutheran martyr, Robert Barnes, executed by Henry VIII in 1540. Useful as a unit set or historical case study for studies in church and state, church and society, history of diplomacy, Bonhoeffer […]
The City is Complex: Lessons from “The Wire”
The City is Complex: Lessons From “The Wire” — This article from James K.A. Smith’s Comment Magazine uses the HBO series as an allegory for exploring the ambiguities of human institutions and human nature (What is man that Thou art mindful of him?): “Exegeting the life of cities requires that we forego simplistic definitions, naïve […]
When Sex Offenders Confess to Clergy: Three Mistaken Beliefs
When Sex Offenders Confess to Clergy: Three Mistaken Beliefs — Boz Tchividjian is an associate professor of law at Liberty University and former prosecutor who examines whether pastors are prohibited from reporting child sexual abuse disclosures made by perpetrators. See also Uncle Sam Eavesdropping Outside the Confessional Booth and the CTCR study document, “The Pastor-Pentitent […]
Student Housing, LGBT, and George Fox University
Student Housing, LGBT, and George Fox University — This Christian college in Oregon is the current instance in a growing number of cases of openly transgender students forcing schools around the country to address questions so basic that they were rarely asked just a few years ago, much less answered: What defines a person’s gender, […]
