Use this page to scroll back through over 800 previous entries across several topics and disciplines. See the various subject matter pages for content selected for specific disciplines.
Conflicted Catharsis: On ISIS and Revenge Films: in movies and in life, should Christians celebrate when villains are killed? The police, the military, the enforcement agencies who preserve peace in the world—when they are not abused—are agents of temporal justice in a world desperately seeking shalom. The complication is that sin infects not just the […]
A new study by LifeWay Research shows that more than 4 in 10 women who have had an abortion were churchgoers when they ended a pregnancy. Only 7 percent of women discussed their abortion decision with anyone at church. Three-fourths say the church had no influence on their decision to terminate a pregnancy. Students can […]
Bread for the World Puts Price Tag on Hunger: $160 billion in health care. Hunger and food insecurity are so widespread in the United States they add $160 billion to national health care spending, according Bread for the World, Hunger is a key factor in the U.S. having the worst infant mortality rate among developed countries. The […]
Following public scrutiny of their previous policy, Grand Canyon University evaluated its employee benefits policy and, in order to demonstrate “grace and compassion” toward married same-sex employees, extended employee benefits to partners. GCU was founded by Southern Baptists in 1949, issued a statement last Friday explaining that the school has altered its employee benefits package to include lawfully married same-sex […]
In “The Illusion of Respectability,” Allen Guelzo challenges the professor or teacher who is Christian to renounce the lust for credibility in the modern academy. Otherwise, that environment changes us—substitutes its reward system, offers its hierarchy, and creates its parallel universe to which we are slowly acculturated. Accreditation and public funding are now discredit and indentured servitude.
In “My Top 5 Works of Religious Satire,” Terry Lindvall thinks back through his research to pick the 5 best books of religious satire. Students can be introduced to Erasmus, C.S. Lewis, Guareschi, Bierce, and Swift. His recent book, God Mocks, (NYU Press, 2015) traces the development of faith-based humor from biblical times through today.
The Secularization Symposium: In 1990, the Pew Charitable Trust sponsored a major conference at Duke University on the subject of secularization in modern higher education. 25 years later, the main contributors have agreed to reflect once again on questions of faith, scholarship, academic secularization, modes of specialized learning, and the production of knowledge at contemporary colleges […]
Christian agencies rebuke anti-refugee stance: Catholic, mainline, and evangelical agencies handling refugee resettlement in the United States are calling for communities to welcome refugees and reject the rhetoric of governors calling for a ban on Syrian asylum-seekers in their states in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. Students can survey the initial positions in this […]
NAE, LifeWay Research Publish Evangelical Beliefs Research Definition: Because researchers use different tools to identify evangelicals, results vary in polling. Lifeway Research has developed, reviewed, and tested an evangelical beliefs research definition for accurate and consistent use among researchers. (Could such a research definition be developed for Lutherans or Catholics?)
Where is the Muslim peace movement? Richard Ostling has been writing on religious issues for Christianity Today, Time Magazine, and other sources for many years. This Q&A provides a brief but informed discussion about Islam, jihadism, and differences among Muslims: if Islam is a peace-loving religion where are the Muslim voices for peace? The article […]
