I’ve always been fascinated by the Baptist bogeyman. Bogeymen are not real dangers, but ones we use to scare one another, often distracting us from real danger. There are real challenges in our churches and the convention—theological and otherwise—but bogeymen distract us from the real issues.
Purpose Driven was the first bogeyman I remember in Southern Baptist life. Instead of focusing on real dangers facing our denomination, some Southern Baptists started preaching against wearing Hawaiian shirts … [Read More]
The Baptist Bogeyman
Doing Theology as a Servant of Jesus (2): Theology Aims at the Head, the Heart, and the Hands
One of the benefits of marriage is that it brings a theologian down to earth. During the first years of my marriage to Lauren, my patient wife had to listen to hours of my theological bloviations, which I delivered with the oratorical verve of Will Ferrell and a great deal of unsuccessfully suppressed self-satisfaction. After I had finally given birth to the entirety of my “train of thought” (on creational ontology, revelational epistemology, or some … [Read More]
Moral Failure in Student Ministry
Therapeutic Moralistic Deism.
Student ministers know this term well, or at least they should. Christian Smith and Melinda Denton popularized this term out of their massive research called The National Study of Youth and Religion.
They argue the Western Church has done a phenomenal job of communicating to students. But what has been communicated has not been as biblically centered as we might hope. We have communicated Christianity as behavior modification too often and as the matchless … [Read More]
The 10/30 Window: A New Unreached People Group
Recently World Magazine ran a very interesting and important article entitled, “The Other Unreached People Group.” (January 14, 2012, pg. 30). It points out that in addition to the geographical window of the 10/40 people group, a geographical region that represents billions of lost Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhist, there is now a new generational people group that is unreached. This is persons between the ages of 10 and 30. The article points out that today … [Read More]
A H Strong on Metaphysics and Mosquitoes
At the turn of the 20th century, Augustus H Strong (1836-1921) was the premiere Baptist theologian among northern Baptists, and he remains one of my favorites to read. This morning I was reading his discussion of whether or not this is the best of all possible worlds, and I came across a number of quotes that he had collected (Systematic Theology, 406). How one answers this question, Strong opines, often determines whether he is an optimist … [Read More]
Insider Movements and Theological Method
This past week, I posted a book notice about Doug Coleman’s fine new book, A Theological Analysis of the Insider’s Movement.[1] Because the book notice prompted some vigorous discussion, I thought it might be helpful to post an excerpt from an essay I am writing on theological method. In the essay, I try to show how significant one’s theological method is for ministry and mission in general. In the excerpted portion, below, I try to … [Read More]
Want to Be a Better Student? Exercise
In his fascinating book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century author Thomas Friedman decries how American students have fallen behind other nations in such fields as math and engineering. At the same time students in the U.S. have excelled at becoming couch potatoes: 65% of Americans are overweight, but this trend has become an epidemic among young people. “We are literally killing ourselves,” John Ratey says in his book Spark, … [Read More]
Reinventing Student Ministry
Recently I had the honor of participating in the ReInventing Youth Ministry Conference at Southern Seminary. I enjoyed catching up with old friends, including some phenomenal student pastors and Dr. Troy Temple, who teaches at SBTS. I finally met in the flesh Dr. Dave Adams, a legend in student ministry.
Wherever I go, whether I am speaking with a local church and its leaders or a gathering of student pastors, one thing is clear in all … [Read More]
Question 12: How do I contextualize a biblical truth?
It is not possible to not contextualize. Every Christian is actively contextualizing all the time, and is either doing it well or doing it badly. Gospel proclamation, church life, and theology are always contextual. As Hiebert points out, “On the one hand, the gospel belongs to no culture. It is God’s revelation of himself and his acts to all people. On the other hand, it must always be understood and expressed within human cultural forms” … [Read More]
