Leslie Leyland Fields’ latest feature on Christianity Today, “The Gospel Is More Than a Story,” starts by expressing ambivalence for an unnamed but “much-hyped” story version of the Bible. I’m pretty sure she’s talking about one of my old projects. I helped create The Story in 2005, intending it to be an easy way for … Continue reading Is Story all there is?
Christian.co.uk was kind enough to republish a few of my recent posts on gender roles, including “A letter to my daughter,” which I originally wrote during Rachel Held Evans’ Week of Mutuality. They also repurposed my series on my journey from complementarianism, turning it into two articles for their “Is leadership male?” series (see part … Continue reading Is leadership male? A response
“Yes, but the cross is an offense. So if you’re being true to the gospel, you’re going to offend someone.” This is one of the more common rejoinders I hear when Christians are accused of being unloving. (The idea that it’s OK — perhaps even necessary — to offend for the sake of the gospel has … Continue reading The offense of the gospel
Next month, our daughter turns two. Ever since she was born, we’ve wondered: how do we introduce her to Christ? We had her baptized a year ago — now what? How do we help her to embrace faith in God for herself? Somehow, coaxing her into praying the sinner’s prayer as soon as she can … Continue reading The gospel sketched for kids
The next few words might come as a bit of a surprise, especially if you’ve followed the Jared-Wilson-quotes-Doug-Wilson-who-likes-slavery controversy of the last week or so. Anyway, Doug Wilson is right about something. The Bible never explicitly condemns slavery. Now, before you grab your pitchforks (which you’d be right to do if I left it there), … Continue reading Slavery and the folly of biblical literalism
So here’s something we learned last week… Neo-Reformed theologian and self-described “paleo-Confederate” Doug Wilson thinks slavery was basically all right. In fact, he wrote a whole booklet about it, Southern Slavery As It Was, in which he erroneously claims: That most enslaved blacks were happier and better off than most free blacks and even many urban … Continue reading Doug Wilson and the Neo-Reformed
I hate it when the wrecking ball arrives just as I’m settling into a new home. A little over a year ago, my wife and I joined the Episcopal Church. We were confirmed on a Saturday. Our daughter was baptized the following day, Pentecost Sunday. Last week, Episcopalians wrapped up their triennial convention, and the … Continue reading On the imminent demise of the Episcopal Church…
Well, I was wrong. Someone decided to play the judgment card. As reported on Matthew Paul Turner’s blog today, Christian author and prophecy enthusiast Joel C. Rosenberg wrote that the Colorado wildfires were indeed sent by God to get our attention. Here’s an excerpt from Rosenberg’s blog yesterday: Is it possible God is using natural disasters … Continue reading Joel C. Rosenberg steps up to the mic…
Yesterday, photos of smoke, ash, and devastation began to fill my Facebook feed. I have a lot of friends in Colorado Springs. I heard from one who spent the evening watching the ash descend on his house and praying it wouldn’t light. Another spent the morning watering her roof. Then came the updates from those … Continue reading Colorado burning
Here’s an article I wrote for Q, an organization started by Gabe Lyons to help Christian leaders wrestle with the biggest issues impacting the church today… Biblical Literacy Begins With… Reading 3.9 billion. That’s how many copies of the Bible we’ve bought over the last 50 years, according to one estimate. As you might have guessed, that … Continue reading What if we actually read the Bible?
Ben Irwin 