Church and CultureThe Middle East’s Christian minorities have a painful political history. Not only have they suffered persecution and restrictions at the hands of Muslim majorities, but they have also sometimes made poor choices themselves. One can find Arab Christian leaders who have championed democratic freedoms. For example, the Lebanese statesman Charles Malik (1906-1987) was a major…
Church and CultureThere is a widespread assumption that evangelical Protestant support for Israel is purely theological. But this assumption overlooks the many other reasons why evangelicals and other Americans feel an affinity with the Jewish state. It is true that the Bible weighs heavily in evangelical thinking. Most evangelicals, like most Christians of other traditions, believe that…
TheologyChristians look to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as God’s authoritative revelation of his purposes for humankind. But these sacred texts, written originally for Jewish and Christian audiences thousands of years ago, do not give detailed instructions for church or U.S. policy in the 21st century. They do not identify which governments…
Church and CultureAnyone seeking to understand the Middle East cannot avoid this fact: it is the region where the events of the Bible took place. Jews remember God’s words and actions in what are now Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, and Israel/Palestine. This is where God constituted them as a people, gave them a law to guide…
Confessing the FaithAlmost five hundred years ago, Martin Luther stood before the Diet of Worms and declared, “Here I stand, I can do no other.” He and other Reformers identified five essentials of the faith that they could not compromise: Sola Scriptura—Scripture Alone, Solus Christus—Christ Alone, Sola Gratia—Grace Alone, Sola Fide—Faith Alone, and Soli Deo Gloria—To the…
Confessing the FaithIf you’ve ever driven a car around a curve you’re familiar with the physical phenomenon of centrifugal force. It’s the tug you feel as you try to keep your car on the road while your car simultaneously expresses its desire to ignore the asphalt and continue straight along its present path. Our English word “centrifugal”…
Confessing the FaithWhat are the boundaries to Christian faith which if crossed, place a person outside of Christian faith? What is the content of Christian faith? Can a person claim to be a Christian and believe anything at all as long as he/she holds those beliefs sincerely? Does Christian faith have any specific content at all? Retired…
Church and CultureWithin the larger question of the place of women in the New Testament, this passage is of critical importance. All across church history various voices have found “regimental colors” or even “battle cries” in these verses. One quickly thinks of: “the head of woman is man” and “any woman who prays…with her head unveiled, dishonors…
Church and CulturePaul tells the Corinthians (4:6) that his intent in this letter is, (literally translated) “that you may learn in us not to go beyond that which is scripture….” The Presbyterian Logo, as you recall, has a dove descending on a book. Our Reformed tradition rests solidly on sola scriptura. Out of this heritage I am…
Church and CultureWhat is marriage? Consider two competing views: Conjugal View: Marriage is the union of a man and a woman who make a permanent and exclusive commitment to each other of the type that is naturally (inherently) fulfilled by bearing and rearing children together. The spouses seal (consummate) and renew their union by conjugal acts—acts that…
Church and CultureThe church’s historic understanding of marriage may be the foremost doctrine under fire at the 220th General Assembly (2012) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Redefining marriage is the next logical step in the normalization of sexual relationships outside the marriage of man and woman. With the 2011 deletion of the requirement that ordained PC(USA) officers…
SufferingThrough the despair and agony of life’s final moments, God’s command, “Thou may live,” resounds in the mind and heart of those flirting with ending their own lives. “The suicidal person hears this command as a light piercing the darkness, not as a command that she must live but as the good news that she…
