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Jeff Oliver, \u201cWhy the Church May Be Ignoring the Powerful Significance of Pentecost<\/a>\u201d Charisma (May 9, 2017).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n James F. Linzey, \u201cThe New Year that Ushered in a World War<\/a>\u201d Assist News Service (December 28, 2017).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Douglas Groothuis, \u201cLearning to Say Hello Again: A New Year’s resolution that could make a big difference<\/a>\u201d Christianity Today Online (January 5, 2018). |<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout the day, we can pronounce a silent blessing on many we encounter. I often pray, \u2018May God bless you and keep you, make his face shine upon you, and give you peace.\u2019 The Bible is packed with blessings and benedictions for our discovery and use. Thinking and praying this way opens us up to greeting people with heartfelt good wishes and without fear.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alec Ryrie, \u201cBeyond the Reformation of Politics<\/a>\u201d Modern Age<\/em> (Fall 2017).<\/p>\n In an age when Western societies think most problems are susceptible to political solutions, what can we learn from the apolitical heritage of people like Martin Luther, Pietism, early Pentecostals, and South Korean Christians? \u201cProtestantism is not, in any of its forms, a political movement. It is about God, and it is about human salvation. The centrality of those spiritual concerns has often been exasperating to secular politicians who want to make Protestants their allies and are frustrated by all the wearisome Jesus-talk, but it is unavoidable. Naturally, Protestants\u2019 spiritual preoccupations have political consequences, sometimes dramatic ones. When an overwhelming encounter with God has turned your whole world upside down, nothing, politics included, will be quite the same. Yet if we misread these secondary effects as primary, we will not be able to understand their impact.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Marshall Shelley, \u201cWhat Christians in the US Can Learn from Immigrant Pastors: For those who met Christ elsewhere, Americanized Christianity can look a bit strange<\/a>\u201d Christianity Today Online (January 2018).<\/p>\n \u201cThe temptation there is hypocrisy, to appear more spiritual than you actually are. But in the US I pray less than I did in Korea. No one checks on my discipleship; we don\u2019t talk about it. It\u2019s all left up to the individual. Here we\u2019re not hypocrites; we\u2019re just lazy.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kate Bowler, \u201cDeath, the Prosperity Gospel and Me<\/a>\u201d The New York Times <\/em>(February 13, 2016).<\/p>\n Did you miss this insightful 2016 article by a historian of the prosperity gospel?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dorothy Littell Greco, \u201cPastoring the Victims of #MeToo: Four steps your church can take to minister well<\/a>\u201d WomenLeaders.com (January 21, 2018).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cEscalators to heaven: Evangelicalism is spreading among the Chinese of South-East Asia<\/a>\u201d The Economist<\/em> (January 4, 2018)<\/p>\n \u201cEvangelical and Pentecostal Christianity is growing more quickly in Asia than most parts of the world, with over 200M adherents in 2015, up from 17M in 1970. The largest congregations are in South Korea and the Philippines, where dazzlingly large mega-churches hold tens of thousands of people. But Christian zeal is also increasing in other parts of the continent, including Indonesia and Malaysia, where proselytising among the Muslim majority is well nigh impossible, but where Buddhists, Confucians and Christians of other denominations, almost all of them ethnically Chinese, are proving receptive.\u201d<\/p>\n William Spencer, \u201cWe Saw Trees Walking: Our Stories of Eye Healings<\/a>\u201d Applying Biblical Truths Today (December 27, 2017).<\/p>\n John Lathrop writes: \u201cHere is a healing testimony by one of my former seminary professors. Dr. William Spencer.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shawna Songer Gaines, \u201cHow to Make Finding a Mentor Less Awkward: Three shifts in the way I thought about mentoring freed me<\/a>\u201d WomenLeaders.com (January 24, 2018).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Craig S. Keener, \u201cWhat Is the Mark of the Beast?<\/a>\u201d Zondervan Academic (January 5, 2018).<\/p>\n Ernest Cleo Grant II, \u201cLooking for Ancient African Religion? Try Christianity: The African religious imagination already anticipates Christ<\/a>\u201d Christianity Today <\/em>(January 18, 2018).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Micah Mattix, \u201cMilton\u2019s Morality: Fallen man and the fallen stature of Paradise Lost<\/em><\/a>\u201d The Weekly Standard <\/em>(January 21, 2018).<\/p>\n William De Arteaga<\/a> writes, \u201cAnother important legacy of Western civilization disdained by modern secularism.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roger Olson, \u201cA Few Words about \u2018Slain in the Spirit\u2019 as a Spiritual Experience<\/a>\u201d Patheos (January 26, 2018).<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t blaspheme the sacrament you don\u2019t understand. That doesn\u2019t mean criticism is always inappropriate. But remind yourself that whatever form of life you live in\u2014secular or religious or whatever\u2014probably has some practices and experiences that outsiders would consider very abnormal and even extremely weird.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Craig S. Keener, \u201cWhy I Almost Left Evangelicalism: I almost distanced myself from the label years ago, but I\u2019m glad I stayed<\/a>\u201d Christianity Today Online (January 24, 2018).<\/p>\n When the article published online, Keener wrote on Facebook, \u201cI understand why some friends have become uncomfortable being associated with \u2018evangelicals,\u2019 given the way some have used the title. Here is why I am still comfortable with it, though why I also understand their feelings very well.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Glenn T. Stanton, \u201cNew Harvard Research Says U.S. Christianity Is Not Shrinking, But Growing Stronger<\/a>\u201d The Federalist<\/em> (January 22, 2018).<\/p>\n The subtitle of this article reads, \u201cIs churchgoing and religious adherence really in \u2018widespread decline\u2019 so much so that conservative believers should suffer \u2018growing anxiety\u2019? Absolutely not.\u201d Thanks to Brigada<\/em><\/a> for recommending this article. | Stanton references this paper: \u201cThe Persistent and Exceptional Intensity of American Religion: A Response to Recent Research<\/a>\u201d by Landon Schnabel and Sean Bock. Abstract: \u201cRecent research argues that the United States is secularizing, that this religious change is consistent with the secularization thesis, and that American religion is not exceptional. But we show that rather than religion fading into irrelevance as the secularization thesis would suggest, intense religion\u2014strong affiliation, very frequent practice, literalism, and evangelicalism\u2014is persistent and, in fact, only moderate religion is on the decline in the United States. We also show that in comparable countries, intense religion is on the decline or already at very low levels. Therefore, the intensity of American religion is actually becoming more exceptional over time. We conclude that intense religion in the United States is persistent and exceptional in ways that do not fit the secularization thesis.\u201d<\/p>\n Eddie L. Hyatt, \u201cBlack History, Racial Healing and the Great Awakening<\/a>\u201d BiblicalAwakening.blogspot.com (February 2, 2018).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Festus Iyorah, \u201cWhy are young Nigerians abandoning the Church for Pentecostalism?<\/a>\u201d Catholic Herald (February 2, 2018).<\/p>\n The subtitle reads, \u201cYoung Catholics are being drawn away from the Church. Can anything stop the exodus?\u201d Thanks to William De Arteaga for mentioning this article.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Craig S. Keener, \u201cWeighing T.J. Weeden\u2019s Critique of Kenneth Bailey\u2019s Approach to Oral \u00a0Traditions in the Gospels<\/a>\u201d Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism<\/em> 13 (2017), pages 41-78.<\/p>\n Craig Keener comments: \u201cKenneth Bailey contended for a model of oral tradition behind the Gospels based on Middle Eastern practices of passing on tradition. James D. G. Dunn, N. T. Wright and others developed his basic model. Theodore Weeden, however, severely critiqued the model, noting some significant problems in Bailey’s data. Some scholars, such as Eric Eve at Oxford, have taken a nuanced view, acknowledging some of Bailey’s weaknesses but showing from other scholarly work that Bailey’s proposal resembles what studies of oral history also suggest. | In this new article in Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, I respond to Weeden’s critique of Bailey. Although some of his observations are correct, Bailey’s model still has a great deal to offer, and Eve (and Dunn, Wright and others) have been right to point this out. (I should note: although most of my posts on this site are at a more popular level, this one is more academic.)\u201d The article will be available online for a limited time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Craig S. Keener, \u201cStrategies and Reasons for Writing<\/a>\u201d The Logos Academic Blog (January 25, 2018).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gary Tyra, \u201cKarl Barth and the Phenomenon of Prophetic Preaching: There is a need for Spirit-empowered sermons that are transformational in their effect<\/a>\u201d Preaching Today<\/em> (Feb 2018).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n John P. Lathrop, \u201cProphecy: A Gift With Multiple Uses<\/a>\u201d Berita Mujizat (February 21, 2018).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Michael Brown, \u201cBilly Graham\u2019s Dangerous Advice<\/a>\u201d The Stream (March 4, 2018).<\/p>\n \u201cDo we dare heed this word of counsel today? Do we have the courage and confidence to take up Billy Graham\u2019s dangerous advice?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Scott Lencke, \u201cStory-Shaped Worship & Liturgy<\/a>\u201d Internet Monk (March 6, 2018).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/BillyGraham-CT20180221.jpg\")
Remembering Billy Graham<\/a>, Christianity Today <\/em>(Special Edition, February 21, 2018).<\/p>\n