I found the Evangelical Manifesto to be one of the most hopeful documents to come out in the last few years. It gives me hope that, along with the committee that wrote A Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future, the leaders of Evangelicalism are wresting control away from those that seek political, religious, and economic power over the largest demographic of American Christendom.

The good points:

• ---A move toward post-conservative/post-liberal theology as the consensus of evangelicals
• ---A dismissal of power
• ---A stubborn refusal to submit to the "discourse"
• ---A holistic socio-political outlook that denies pandering from political parties and interest groups
• ---A long and generously repentant section of confessions (I think that Evangelical churches should read these confessions from the pulpit and confess these sins together)
• ---A tone that seeks to establish Evangelicals as the definers and leaders of Evangelicalism, wresting control away from the Religious Right and paving the way for Evangelicalism to take hold of the evangelical conversation again
• ---A call to civility

The bad points: ... more

Peter Enns, one of the leading evangelical professors of Old Testament, has been suspended from his tenured post at Westminster Theological Seminary after debate about how his book Inspiration and Incarnation matched up with the institution's doctrinal statement.  I don't go to Westminster, I don't know much about it other than it is named after the confession it espouses, and I only know of a friend of a friend who goes there.  I will steer clear of any rash judgements and leave the explanations to this Christianity Today article: Westminster Theological Suspension.

My concern, as with the Shane Claiborne incident at Wheaton, is that Christian institutions are using religious and theological smoke and mirrors games as power plays of political ambition and as battlegrounds for influence.  The kinds of reactions that some presbyteries are quoted as having in the CT article smell of hyperbole and guilt by association tactics.  Peter Enns is an evangelical theologian, I would not even classify what I have read of him (all articles back in my PBU days) as moderately liberal, and he is certainly not a lunatic. ... more

I had this past weekend to myself, so I decided to go to the Lutheran church close to my home church so I could make it to a meeting at my home church after the Lutheran church let out of their service.

I have an infatuation with the Lutheran liturgy I grew up on, and I try to make my rounds once or twice a year to keep my “peace be with you” fresh and energetic.

I like the Lutheran liturgy that the ELCA uses in weekly services because there are several instances of silence built into the liturgy.  One of my complaints against the evangelical service I regularly attend is that there is never any silence---there is always some noise of instruments or voice during the service, and I cannot always meditate and worship in prayer.  I just cannot plain here myself think at church.  And I think there is a problem with that. ... more

Today on the Leonard Lopate show a memoirist and novelist named John Marks was featured in a segment called A Former Evangelical's Crisis of Faith.  Lopate and Marks, who are both not practicing Christians, showed a stunning secular understanding of American Protestantism, being that they are outsiders.  It helped that Marks had been an evangelical before leaving Christianity altogether, but Lopate also showed a surprising knowledge of the differances between charismatic and Pentacostal expressions of faith and worship.  In summary, the segment discussed how:

American evangelical Christianity can be misunderstood by outsiders.  Veteran journalist and former 60 Minutes producer John Marks was born again at age 16, but later abandoned his faith.  His new book about the religion he left behind is Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind.  ... more

A great read in Christianity Today is their in-depth article, The Future Lies in the Past, on what is losely called Ancient-Future worship in Evangelical cirlces.

Personally, I am a big proponent of Ancient-Future worship and feel it is the best mediator between the early church and cultural developments within non-liturgical American churches. ... more

Some guy named Frank Viola wrote a book called Pagan Christianity in 2002 and no one cared it did not make many waves. Apparently, he sold George Barna on the concept in the first edition and it is being reprinted with Barna's name on the front.

From Out of Ur:

Viola argues in his preface that the "practices of the first-century church were the natural and spontaneous expression" of believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit that were "solidly grounded in timeless principles and teachings of the New Testament.quot; Regrettably, he maintains, most practices of contemporary churches—including everything from having a professional pastor to meeting in a church building—are at odds with New Testament teachings. Worse yet, those extra-biblical practices were adopted from pagan culture. This is unsettling, Viola sympathizes; but it is also "unmovable, historical fact." The remainder of the volume is an argument from Scripture and church history to support this thesis: "the church in its contemporary, institutional form has neither a biblical nor a historical right to function as it does."

... more