In misguided attempt to combat swine flu, Egypt's government has announced plans to destroy the mostly Muslim nation's 400,000 pigs--which are owned by members of the country's Christian minority. The action comes despite comments from the United Nations that the slaughter is "a real mistake." The disease cannot be caught from eating pork. Egypt's Christians, understandably, are bewildered.

The move to slaughter the pigs, kept mainly by the country's Christian minority, sparked an angry response from farmers, who said reported government pledges of compensation of $105 per animal were inadequate.

Clashes were reported in Khanka, 25km north of Cairo, with pig farmers setting up road blocks and smashing the windscreens of veterinary services' vehicles as they sought to take people's pigs away.

"Our pigs are healthy. They are our capital and they have no diseases," Adel Ishak, a rubbish collector from Manshiet Nasser, northeast of Cairo, told the AFP news agency.

"How will they replace the capital if these pigs are killed?"

Posted by Stan Guthrie at April 30, 2009 4:39PM | Comments (6)

Think the churches in your neighborhood don't get along? Then, this should put things in perspective: The pastor of Rubaga Miracle Centre in Kampala, Uganda, has accused the pastor of Omega Healing Centre of trying to destroy his reputation by 1) kidnapping and torturing his personal aide and 2) bribing the aide to accuse him of sexually abusing boys.

Omega Healing Centre's pastor, Michael Kyazze, denies he was involved in kidnapping:

I have never been engaged in as nefarious and criminal an act of kidnapping. My struggle has been and will continue to be the fight for the increasing number of victims of sodomy in our society. If it has been interpreted as an effort to discredit Pastor Kayanja, then it is both unfortunate and a dangerous insinuation.

This comes soon after an assistant pastor of Omega Healing Centre was arrested while trespassing at Rubaga Miracle Centre, allegedly while trying to investigate Kayanja .

The aide is currently recovering in a Kampala hospital.

Uganda’s New Vision reported the story and says it highlights growing tension among competing Pentecostal churches. The Daily Monitor says "Cases of alleged homosexuality in churches have now become common." New Vision says rival pastors also accuse each other of witchcraft.

Posted by Susan Wunderink at April 30, 2009 4:08PM | Comments (4)

Amazingly, this is not the worst ad for a Christian dating site I've seen.

But the worst was merely lascivious and not worth commenting on. This one, however, struck me because it's the only site I've seen that offers to "certify" Christians as such.

Those worried about their eternal security, take note.

Posted by Ted Olsen at April 30, 2009 3:21PM | Comments (0)

Just two years after The Dallas Morning News cut its religion section, editors have decided to cut its local religion beat by moving two religion reporters to covering suburban schools.

It's unclear whether the religion blog will still be updated, but Sam Hodges said in an e-mail that he probably won't be able to keep it up. He and other writers are still posting interesting items, including this today:

The swine flu scare has prompted at least one Texas church to order a shipment of individually wrapped communion wafers and juice packets, thus cutting down on handling that could spread the disease.

Columnist Rod Dreher writes more on his blog:

Depressing very local news: there is no longer a religion beat at the Dallas Morning News. Our last two religion reporters have been reassigned to covering suburban schools. I have no idea why this decision was made, and I am in no position to question it, certainly. All newspapers, and certainly my own, are in serious trouble during this economic crisis, and we can't cover everything. But it is a shame, and indeed more than a shame, to think that the DMN's Religion section used to be routinely acclaimed within the profession as the best religion section in the country. And given how passionately religious Dallas and its environs are, this is to be expected, and welcomed.

I spoke to the newspaper's editor Bob Mong after the newspaper cut its award-winning religion section in 2007.

"In a time of flat revenues, we simply could not generate the advertising to break even on the section," Mong said. "I don't think any paper in the country tried harder than we did over the years."

Mong helped develop the religion section in 1994, but sees more potential now for online reporting in blogs and newsletters. The Dallas Morning News website has seen more page hits on its religion blog than it did for its religion section online, he said.

"I like the idea of a section. I obviously believed in the section approach to give the subject more visibility," Mong said. "It had a very strong and loyal readership, but there came a time when we simply had to make some difficult choices."

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at April 30, 2009 11:33AM | Comments (1)

Cross-posted from The Christian History Blog

When theologian George Kalantzis returned to the Wheaton College campus last fall after spending the summer in the Holy Land, he had a very pleasant surprise. While he was out of the country, two donors had approached the college administration about funding a program that would encourage interaction between Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism over their mutual legacy from the early church.

No one at Wheaton knew just how much these donors would fund, but George and his colleagues decided to dream big: they envisioned a Center for the Study of Early Christianity, with a vertically integrated program from undergraduate courses up through master's and doctoral studies.

Their big vision was rewarded.

Two physicians from San Diego, Frank and Julie Papatheofanis, have now made that dream possible. (Julie Papatheofanis is a Wheaton alum.) You can see the beginnings of this vision at the Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies website.

Evangelical Christian interest in the early church has been growing for about 30 years. Much of the impetus for that interest can be traced to the work of the late Robert Webber, who was teaching at Wheaton in 1978 when he wrote Common Roots about the importance of the early church for evangelical life. "Without the work of Bob Webber, this would not be possible," George told me over coffee in Wheaton's Beamer Student Center. "He plowed the ground," George continued, alluding to 1 Corinthians 3:6.

There seems to be a real hunger for the systematic study of the early church. Wheaton College has not yet begun to advertise this program and already, George says, he has close to 30 students engaged with it. On his desk are about 10 applications for the master's program, a similar number for the undergraduate certificate program, plus a number of students applying for the doctoral program (only one doctoral student can be accepted each year).

A handful of teachers at the conservative Protestant colleges and seminaries have specialized in patristics. Dan Williams at Baylor University is a leading light. Others George mentioned to me include Bradley Nassif at North Park University, Bryan Litfin at Moody Bible Institute, and Jeff Bingham at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Students interested in patristics can take courses here and there, but Wheaton is the first to offer such a concentrated and structured study opportunity.

What does George Kalantzis hope to accomplish? He is very clear that this should not be a nest from which students can swarm to Eastern Orthodoxy. It is not what the donors had in mind (although they are themselves Greek Orthodox). Instead, this program is about seeing the early church tradition as the common roots of evangelicals, Catholics, and Orthodox.

"By studying the early church," George says, "we are studying about our commonalities much more than our differences.

"Our goal is to understand our common tradition, explore it, live with it, be with it, instead of just going back and plundering it - finding the eight quotes to justify whatever I want to do."

One reason for George's emphasis on the tradition we hold in common is his own biography. He was born in Greece in a Greek evangelical home. As a fourth-generation Greek evangelical, he is unwilling to surrender the Great Tradition to the Orthodox, as if it were their exclusive property.

The Tradition belongs to Protestants as well, he reminds us. Without the story of the early church, the Protestant Reformation would make no sense. The Reformers appealed to the pattern of the early church. We cannot be true Protestants without knowing that history.

A few other facts about George:

• He came to America to study medicine, but after his first year of medical school, he says, God opened his eyes to a different calling, the study of history and theology.

• He chose to do his doctoral work at Northwestern University in order to stay in Chicago and relate to the Greek evangelical community here. While at NU, he wrote his dissertation on Theodore of Mopsuestia's Christology.

• After his doctoral work, he taught at Garrett Evangelical Seminary for 10 years. If you visit ratemyprofessor.com, you'll see what his students thought about him. One student from 2006 wrote: "George is FABULOUS and his lectures are brilliant. He doesn't coddle anyone but has very high expectations."
  

Well, we think Wheaton College and the Doctors Papatheofanis are FABULOUS for opening a new Center for the Study of Early Christianity. And we have very high expectations. Congratulations to all on a ground-breaking move.

* * *

Image credit: Icon of the First Council of Nicaea via Wikimedia Commons.

Posted by David Neff at April 30, 2009 5:52AM | Comments (7)

Broadcaster Pat Robertson announced his plans to retire next summer as president of Regent University, the school said today.

Robertson, 79, will retire July 1, 2010 and continue to serve as chancellor and on the board of trustees at the 4,500-student, Virginia-based school.

"As chancellor and a trustee, I will now focus on helping guide the university toward the next level of strategic growth and the implementation of our master plan," he said in the statement.

A newly appointed search committee will name a new president by the fall semester of 2010, according to the release.

Robertson founded numerous organizations, including the American Center for Law and Justice, the Christian Broadcasting Network, and the Christian Coalition. He unsuccessfully campaigned to become the Republican Party's nominee in the 1988 presidential election but became widely known as a leader for the Christian right.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at April 28, 2009 5:45PM | Comments (3)

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association has decided to not stage another consumer-focused Christian Book Expo next year. This year's event, held last month in Dallas, drew only 1,500 of an anticipated 10,000 to 15,000 attendees and left the ECPA with $250,000 in bills. Christianity Today participated in the event by convening five author panel discussions on topics such as "Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?" (Podcasts and videos of these discussions are available.) Mark Kuyper, ECPA's president, told Publisher's Weekly, ""We want to clean up the debt before we consider future options."

Posted by Stan Guthrie at April 28, 2009 3:23PM | Comments (3)

This week's Gospel Coalition Conference - the second one open to the public - was packed out. About 3,400 registered participants meant breakout sessions and the main assemblies overflowed, with people sitting on the floor and peeking in from the hallways.

And these participants were overwhelmingly young men. I tried counting from my seat and came up with about 20 men per woman - not too surprising in a mid-week conference for pastors with Calvinist and complementarian views. Don Carson estimated that 80 percent were under forty.

The theme was based on 2 Timothy, a letter from a pastor near the end of his life to a young pastor. It was clear, especially in John Piper's sermon and the panel discussion at the end, that TGC see themselves in that role of pastoring pastors.

As far as the conference itself goes, clearly it's come a long way since 2007, when Trinity Evangelical Divinity School was able to fit everyone on their campus. The lineup of speakers continues to represent a very broad range of styles (John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, among others). Nevertheless, it's also a place where someone can say "peculiar unction" and be understood by all.

But it's no longer just a conference. One of the few non-sermon events was an introduction, led by Keller and Don Carson, to forming official chapters of the Gospel Coalition. Those will have a virtual existence on The City (a social networking site developed at Mars Hill). They're also expected to facilitate face-to-face meetings and conferences. On three separate occasions, people told me TGC seemed like a nascent denomination.

Some sessions are well worth listening to: Keller on contemporary idols, Driscoll on dealing with difficult people, Ajith Fernando on preaching the uniqueness of Christ in a pluralistic society (there doesn't seem to be an available audio file on this), and the second half of the panel discussion, where Keller, Piper, Ligon Duncan, and Crawford Loritts talk about suffering (also not online).

Posted by Susan Wunderink at April 24, 2009 2:54PM | Comments (6)

I celebrated Earth Day by purchasing a plane ticket and reserving a hotel room. From May 13 to 15, I'm going to join other evangelical Christians who care for God's creation at the Flourish Conference in Duluth, Georgia.

The lineup of speakers is intriguing. It blends people who don't usually appear on the same platform because of their differing constituencies and mixes veteran environmental presenters with other well-known speakers who haven't addressed this issue with their publics. Add to that the symbolism of a Southern Baptist venue for an environmental conversation and the fact that several of the speakers are "professional Southern Baptists" (that is, their public face is linked with Southern Baptist institutions).

But what is most interesting about this conference is this:

In a recent e-mail, Flourish CEO Jim Jewell told me:

This is a conference about church ministries and personal faithfulness, not political action and global warming. This reflects the philosophy of the new organization, Flourish. The organization and the conference are not taking a public stand on climate change ... , because the heated rhetoric about global warming and disagreements on the role of government have paralyzed the church's consideration of deeper responsibilities to care for God's creation as a matter of Christian discipleship.

Making this distinction between church ministry and personal faithfulness on the one hand, and political action on the other may be a necessary strategy. Jewell cited a recent Barna Research Group poll that found that "90 percent of evangelicals believed Christians should be more involved in creation care - but most didn't know what next steps to take. The poll also showed that "most were not convinced about the dangers of global warming. This conference," said Jewell, "can be the start of the equipping and motivating of that 90 percent."

This separation of direct action from politics is part of a larger picture, of course. Many issues can be divided (though not always neatly) into their "political" dimensions and their "direct action" dimensions. Consider, for example, hunger. A huge number of American churches participate in local community food pantries, many of which are part of the organization Feeding America (formerly called America's Second Harvest). Church members are eager to volunteer nonperishable food items and hours of service to the direct action of feeding the hungry. The necessary political work on hunger issues gets much less support in our churches. Nevertheless, a significant number of congregations do participate in Bread for the World's annual Offering of Letters so that church members can tell their concerns to legislators about hunger-related items such as the Farm Bill (renewed every five years) and the aspects of international trade and foreign aid that affect hunger both at home and abroad.

On most issues, we need Christians to be involved in both hands-on action and on the political and policy front. But if you allow the two to mix, you will, frankly scare off those who become uncomfortable with the presence of the "political" dimension in the church context.

According to Princeton sociologist Bob Wuthnow, this is a sociological reality. I recently interviewed Bob about his new book, Boundless Faith, which surveys the tremendous range of connections U.S. churches have with people and projects in other countries. Wuthnow found that certain kinds of issues were perceived as "too political" for congregations to engage. If church leaders tried to get their congregations to address issues that were perceived as political, they would meet major resistance. Thus, whether the issue was HIV/AIDS in Africa or human trafficking, pastors needed to depoliticize the perceptions of the issue as much as possible.

The attempt of the Flourish Conference to separate the church ministry and personal faithfulness elements of creation care from the political action and global warming factors is a savvy strategy. Potentially, it can open the door to congregational activity that is not polarizing but which can still makea significant impact in a local community.

Big environmental problems may still require big solutions coordinated on a national or even international stage. But neighborhoods are also environments where more direct and manageable efforts can make a difference. One of the Flourish speakers, pastor Leroy Barber sees "greening the hood" as an integral part of caring for urban neighbors in need.

Flourish is all about finding the right way to integrate environmental care into Christian living and congregational life. According to Flourish president Rusty Pritchard, the organization "doesn't intend to create a cohort of prophetic single-issue advocates. Caring for creation is one theme in the church's mission, and when it finds its rightful place we can better teach ourselves and those outside the church what it means to be fully human."

* * *

Photo: Fox's den near Jastrzebia G?ra, Poland, provided by Leafnode via Wikimedia Commons.

Posted by David Neff at April 24, 2009 1:21PM | Comments (6)

Cedarville University students will not publish the final issue of their student newspaper Cedars to protest the school's new policy that public relations staff review the newspaper.

"The public relations department, directed by university trustees and some administrative officials, now reviews, approves, censors and cuts the content of your student newspaper," Cedars staff members wrote in a circulated letter. They wrote that public relations employees approved every published article beginning with the second issue this spring.

The students write that review and censorship by public relations breaks the operating model approved by the administrative council on October 9, 2006, which says "The student editors prepare copy for print and take responsibility for making decisions, along with the Faculty Adviser, for what ends up in print."

"...the PR department's excessive attempt to censor Cedars necessarily violates our operating model, and the Cedars staff has thus decided to cease publication," the students write. "Review by the public relations department undermines our ability to think critically and engage culture. We grieve the loss of free expression and healthy discourse once found in your newspaper, traits that ought to characterize all vibrant institutions of higher learning."

Carl A. Ruby, vice president for student life, wrote in a campus-wide e-mail that the newspaper will not be in publication until spring 2010. He said that the newspaper will reorganize and return next year under a new journalism program.

"We acknowledge that finding the right balance of freedom of expression is difficult, especially in the context of a community of believers who voluntarily give up some of our freedoms for the sake of our shared mission," Ruby wrote. "This has been a difficult arrangement, both for the students and for our staff in Public Relations and we recognize that it probably isn't the most ideal approach to editorial oversight for the future."

Update: Sara Lipka at The Chronicle of Higher Education offers more details of why the public relations office was reviewing the newspaper in the first place.

Cedars attracted attention last fall after the Viewpoints section ran columns disapproving of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, arguing that "there was nothing wrong with homosexuality," and suggesting that "abortion wasn't a black and white issue," said a writer for the newspaper who preferred to remain anonymous.

Lipka writes that a counterpoint on vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin became "particularly touchy," which led to a decision by the trustees to have public relations review the paper. She reports that the public relations staff did pull material from the newspaper, including satires of Cedarville's mandatory Bible minor and debate over biblical certainty.

The public relations staff asked the newspaper's faculty adviser to ensure that the semester's final issue of Cedars had no controversial content. English professor Scott D. Calhoun eventually resigned from the adviser position.

"It was an understandable request but fundamentally at odds with the enterprise of scholastic journalism," Calhoun told The Chronicle.

Cedarville is a Baptist university with about 3,000 students and a member of the Coalition of Christian Colleges & Universities.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at April 23, 2009 4:41PM | Comments (26)

When Frodo sailed into the West, never to return to a Middle Earth that was itself slipping away, I got choked up. When Narnia was no more, I felt a longing of regret:

The spreading blackness was not a cloud at all: it was simply emptiness. The black part of the sky was the part in which there were no stars left. All the stars were falling: Aslan had called them home.

As a billion people observe the 40th Earth Day today and think about the noble goal of preserving (and for Christians, stewarding) the planet on which we live and move and have our being, I am thinking about heaven.

There's a reason the Bible promises us a new heaven and a new earth. This world, as seemingly solid and as breathtakingly beautiful as it is, is transient beyond our comprehension. And despite our best (and sometimes misguided) efforts, this pale blue dot in a sea of inky blackness is headed for extinction. That's not a world-denying premillennial eschatological perspective that cannot be verified. It's the latest findings of the new science of astrobiology.

According to Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee, life on earth is the result of a precarious - and temporary - balance of air, rock, and solar activity. In The Life and Death of Planet Earth, They write, "Our neighboring planets, Venus and Mars, one blisteringly hot and the other frozen, have provided valuable insights into how rare, unique, and wonderful our own home is."

Ward and Brownlee, authors of Rare Earth, say the planet is already in decline and make the following predictions related to earth's eventual demise:

- The long-term climate threat to human civilization comes not from global warming, but from a new ice age: "Human civilization has arisen in a brief ?interglacial' that has lasted only about twelve thousand years and may already be ending."
- The loss of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 100 million years will spell the end of plant life (meaning the Age of Plants is 95 percent over);
- All life, even microbial life, which most scientists believe began 3.4 billion years ago, will be extinct in a mere 500 million years;
- When earth, currently estimated at 4.5 billion years old, is 12 billion years old, it will be swallowed by an expanding sun.

Given these projections, the old hymn, "This World Is Not My Home," resonates with me on this Earth Day.

This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.

Yes, while we pass through this world, let's take care of it for our good and for God's glory. But let's remember that Jesus has promised to prepare an even better place for his followers. For us, the end of the world represents the beginning of something far better.

Posted by Stan Guthrie at April 22, 2009 10:40AM | Comments (5)

Today was Holocaust Remembrance Day (or Yom HaShoah in colloquial Hebrew). On this day, Jews do not have a uniform ritual for memorializing those who died as part of the Nazi genocide. The observance was established too recently (inaugurated only in 1951), for any genuine tradition to have developed. Jews marked the occasion in different ways today. I have even less sense of what I should do, but I decided this morning to wear my kippeh (yarmulke) to work as a sign of solidarity with my Jewish brothers and sisters. It gave me a number of opportunities to remind my Christian coworkers of today's significance.

The key issue Christians face is trying to grasp the degree of Christian responsibility for the Nazi genocide. Clearly, many German Christians were utterly complicit, but certainly not all. Clearly, there are cultural links between this history of Christian anti-Semitism and Nazi anti-Semitism. But there is more to the story than that.

Here are three things to remember and to help us have a balanced, accurate view of Christians' relationship to this great horror.

First, not all German Christians collaborated or quietly stood by. German Christians are counted among the ranks of the righteous Gentiles who resisted and protected Jewish lives. The most famous is, of course, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. (See Christian History issue 32 for a full exploration of his heroism. And if you want to investigate the topic of righteous Gentiles even more, try to find a copy of the 1994 book by former CT columnist David Gushee, Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust: A Christian Reflection.) The stories of righteous Gentiles display how the fundamental Christian command to love our neighbors as ourselves motivated many to take great personal risks.

Second, Christian anti-Semitism was historically different in several key ways from Nazi anti-Semitism. One of those ways is the distinction between placing an accent on race (as the Nazis did) or on religious identity (as the medieval church did). Even in the church's teaching of contempt, the focus was on the spiritual blindness of Jews who refused to recognize what God was doing in Jesus of Nazareth. Baptism and conversion (and thus a changed religious identity) were always open doors for Jews who wished to escape prejudice and oppression. For a more detailed list of such contrasts, see my 1998 National Review essay about the Washington, DC, Holocaust Memorial Museum's handling of the topic. Also, my 1998 Christianity Today editorial, "Did Christianity Cause the Holocaust."
.

Third, without Christian activism, there would not be a Jewish homeland today. More to come on that in a few weeks when Christian History will publish the story of British Christians who wanted to show their love for the Jewish people in marked distinction from the history of medieval Christianity and its teaching contempt for the Jews. (These British Christians saw their efforts on behalf of the Jews as part of their Protestant departure from historic Catholicism.) They were responsible for the British government's 1917 Balfour Declaration, which laid the foreign policy and legal groundwork for the eventual establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In that forthcoming article, Donald Lewis of Regent College reports: "Seven of the ten members of the war cabinet that issued the declaration were from evangelical homes; six of the seven were from Calvinist backgrounds, including Balfour (the foreign minister) and Prime Minister David Lloyd George."

So on Holocaust Remembrance Day, please recall that the history of Christian relationships with Jews has both its bright spots and its dark corners. We bear the shame of our fellow Christians whose long teaching of contempt toward the Jews and whose complicity with Nazi policies led to the deaths of millions. But we also claim as our own the righteous Gentiles who stood up to the horror and the Christians who laid the foundations for a Jewish homeland. Today, we honor them.

* * *

Cross-posted from the Christian History Blog.

Posted by David Neff at April 21, 2009 9:03PM | Comments (5)

So which is more interesting? (1) This video?

or (2) the comments from people who think it's terrifying and resembles "one of hitler's speaches from the propaganda films"

Posted by Ted Olsen at April 21, 2009 3:02PM | Comments (11)

* Tuesday, April 21.

Wow. Across three days and meeting in total for 25 hours with seven meals, about 65 Muslim and Evangelical leaders met in Pasadena, Calif., to discuss a wide range of topics.

Don Wagner, a leader in this initiative and a professor at North Park University, at the end exclaimed, "The Holy Spirit has been present with us!." True confessions, he's right. Yes, Islam teaches about the Holy Spirit, not as a person, but as God's active force. (Yeah, we disagree on that one too.)

In summary, here are my three take-aways from this event:

-- The person of Jesus and our relationship with him must be central to discussions between Muslims and evangelicals.

-- Evangelical advocacy for religious freedom worldwide is best positioned when it is clearly linked to the benefit of religious freedom for all faiths, not just for Christians.

-- Religious labeling of all kinds is hazardous to our spiritual health.

* Friday, April 17, 10 pm, update

About 60 Muslim and Evangelical leaders and seminary students met for 12 hours of meetings, meals, and discussion on the Fuller Seminary campus today. (The session resumes tomorrow morning. See below for additional details.)

My head is spinning from the quality of the presentations and the passionate exchanges. So far, this has been a richly rewarding event.

Here are some of my initial impressions after interacting with these scholars, authors, editors, professors, students, and ministry leaders:

1. Muslims and Evangelicals who are committed to the work of dialogue spend a lot of time explaining to each other why extremists do what they do in the name of their own faith.

2. Islam, Christianity, and Judaism have been, are now, and will be in a deep encounter for generations to come. While there was little discussion of Jews and Judaism, the reality of this encounter was for me inescapable. Dialogue that does not lead to tri-a-logue will not survive the test of time.

3. Muslims and Evangelicals once and for all must settle, resolve, mutually understand, and respect their divergent doctrines of God. The end value of such a heroic effort of understanding must not be underestimated.

4. One scholar admitted to what he called "dialogue fatigue." Actually, I see that as real progress. When Muslims and Evangelicals press beyond the far point of verbal exhaustion, isn't that when we can breakthrough to some other new place? Listening to God requires our silence.

5. Evangelicals and Muslims do each other a disservice when they mutually shy away from airing their grievances openly due to quick pursuit of easy faith-based harmony.

6. There is true urgency to this pursuit of relationship and understanding between Muslims and Evangelicals. The consequences of growing tension between Islam and Christianity are growing greater. As I said to one participant, "Lives and souls hang in the balance."

* Friday, 9 am

I'm on campus at Fuller Seminary in sunny & warm Pasadena, CA, for today and tomorrow as about 65 Muslim and Evangelical leaders from North America and the Middle East are discussing a wide range of mutual concerns. The World Islamic Call Society is sponsoring this session, the third one of its kind.

The title is, "A Common Word Between Us and You."

Among the evangelicals here are: Donald Wagner, Leith Anderson, Gary Burge, Len Rogers, Colin Chapman, Dudley Woodbury, and Martin Accad.

Muslim leaders include: Mahmoud Ayoub, Assad Busool, Asma Afsaruddin, Muhammad Sammak, Jamal Badawi, Sayid Sayeed, Abed Ismail.

See below for five of the questions under discussion. I welcome your input since I will be a presenter on Saturday afternoon.

What additional questions would you want explored?

Email me, here. Or, add your question in the comments section below.

Some of the topics to be explored, in question format:

1. What is role and meaning of worship in the New Testament and the Qur'an?

2. What lessons are there for us in looking at the treatment of Christian minorities under Muslim rule and Muslim minorities under Christian rule?

3. What are the consequences, goals, and obstacles of dialog between Muslims and Evangelicals?

4. How should we approach the problem of terrorism and the plight of American Muslims and also the plight of Middle Eastern Christians?

5. How does the call for equality and justice influence the treatment of Muslims and Christians in the North American media, and also in the Muslim media?

(Photo: 'Blue Mosque,' Istanbul, Turkey.)

Posted by Tim Morgan at April 17, 2009 11:11AM | Comments (13)

The video of the Christian apologist verbally sparring with the atheist professor at Princeton is finally available. Here is D'Souza's March column, "Staring into the Abyss," for Christianity Today, based in part on their debate.

Posted by Stan Guthrie at April 16, 2009 1:38PM | Comments (1)

Breaking news:

Top conservative Anglicans have been meeting in London this week and as expected they have issued a communique that offers recognition to Bishop Robert Duncan, former Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh, and his organization the Anglican Communion in North America, a proposed new province.

The ACNA expects to meet this summer to more formally establish an organization of traditional and conservative Anglicans in the United States and Canada. In the meantime, the ligitation over church property, financial assets, trust funds, and endowments continues between the Episcopal Church and parishes and dioceses that have separated from TEC.

See below for the full statement, released early this morning:

Communiqu? from the GAFCON/FCA Primates' Council

In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We meet in the week after Easter, rejoicing again in the power of the risen Lord Jesus to transform lives and situations. We continue to experience his active work in our lives and the lives of our churches and we rejoice in the Gospel of hope.

From its inception, the GAFCON movement has centered on the power of Christ to make all things new. We have heard this week of the great progress made in North America towards the creation of a new Province basing itself on this same biblical gospel of transformation and hope. We have also envisioned the future of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans as a movement for defending and promoting the biblical gospel of the risen Christ.

Yet we are saddened that the present crisis in the Anglican Communion of which we are a part remains unresolved. The recent meeting of Primates in Alexandria served only to demonstrate how deep and intractable the divisions are and to encourage us to sustain the important work of GAFCON.

The GAFCON Primates' Council has the responsibility of recognizing and authenticating orthodox Anglicans especially those who are alienated by their original Provinces. We are also called to promote the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) in its stand against false teaching and as a rallying point for orthodoxy. It is our aim to ensure that the unity of the Anglican Communion is centered on Biblical teaching rather than mere institutional loyalty. It is essential to provide a way in which faithful Anglicans, many of whom are suffering much loss, can remain as Anglicans within the Communion while distancing themselves from false teaching.

At this meeting highly significant progress was made on the following fronts.

Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) ? The FCA in its initial stages is attracting membership by individuals, churches, dioceses, provinces and organizations involving millions of Anglicans. We are heartened by the large numbers of Anglicans who share a commitment to the theological formularies of true Anglicanism that provide a firm foundation for our faith.

We have therefore reviewed the strategy and structures of the FCA to better reflect the demands now made on it. We were glad to receive from the FCA Theological Group their Commentary on the Jerusalem Declaration. We have established the FCA web-site, www.fca.net. We received reports from those involved in partnership development work in the Sudan and elsewhere.

The FCA is committed to pursue our common mission through the establishment of regional chapters and networks of Anglicans who will strengthen and support each other. We rejoice in the development of an active branch of the FCA in the United Kingdom and the proposed launch on July 6th in Westminster Central Hall, London. The establishment of an Advisory Board of bishops, clergy, and laity from around the world reflects the growing breadth of support.

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) - Careful consideration was given to the new Province in North America. We met with Bishop Bob Duncan and other key leaders. The emergent Province consists currently of approximately 100,000 Christians in Canada and the US who wish to continue in full membership of the Anglican Communion world-wide.As a result of this process, we celebrate the organization and official formation of ACNA around the same principles that gave rise to the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and now the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA). Though many Provinces are in impaired or broken communion with TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada, our fellowship with faithful Anglicans in North America remains steadfast.

The FCA Primates' Council recognizes the Anglican Church in North America as genuinely Anglican and recommends that Anglican Provinces affirm full communion with the ACNA. Anglican Covenant? As the Jerusalem Declaration insists we believe that the existing theological formularies of Anglicanism provide an adequate basis for the restoration of the relationships within the Anglican Communion. While we support the concept of an Anglican Covenant, we understand that its adequacy depends on the willingness to address the crisis that has "torn the fabric" of the Communion. We welcome the Ridley Cambridge Draft Covenant and call for principled response from the Provinces.

Relationships ?We value our relationships within the Anglican Communion and those with our ecumenical friends. Already, regional chapters and links are forming in many parts of the world with those who share the commitments expressed in GAFCON and FCA. We look forward in real hope to a positive response amongst the Churches, Dioceses and Provinces of the Communion to our call to enter into full communion with the new Anglican Church in North America. Only in this way, we believe, will the need for the so-called ?cross border incursions' come to an end and a measure of peace restored.

We are especially grateful for the contributions made by the three previous gatherings of the Global South in Limuru, Kenya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Ein-Sukhna, Egypt, and the clarion sound of the "Trumpets." We look forward to sharing in gatherings in the future.

Conclusion
We remain committed to the Anglican Communion and to being a faithful and creative voice for renewal within it to recapture a focus on Biblical teaching and mission. Though conscious of our inadequacies, in the light of Christ's resurrection power, we speak with confidence and seek only to serve the Lord, the people of the Anglican Communion and those who have yet to hear the life-changing message of the Gospel. We are encouraged by the Word of the Lord. The Good News of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ is our only hope and our focus. We continue steadfastly in our commitment to share the fullness of the Gospel in our nations and around the world.

Alleluia! Christ is risen: The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

London, April 16, 2009

Posted by Tim Morgan at April 16, 2009 7:41AM | Comments (2)

Former atheist A. N. Wilson has slowly emerged from the closet as a believer - again. The renowned journalist and biographer, who was raised in the church of England and who had once considered himself a believer, had a "conversion" to atheism 20 years ago at age 38 (midlife crisis, anyone?). And it really looked like a conversion. In an article in the April 6 New Statesman (partial text available here), he compares the tremendous sense of relief he felt when he stopped believing to the experience of Christian converts at a Billy Graham Crusade he was covering for the Independent on Sunday:

As a hesitant, doubting, religious man I'd never known how they felt. But, as a born-again atheist, I now knew exactly what satisfactions were on offer. For the first time in my 38 years I was at one with my own generation. I had become like one of the Billy Grahamites, only in reverse. If I bumped into Richard Dawkins (an old colleague from Oxford days) or had dinner in Washington with Christopher Hitchens (as I did either on that trip to interview Billy Graham or another), I did not have to feel out on a limb.

After that conversion, his biographical writing turned to demythologizing gospel stories about Jesus and viewing C. S. Lewis through a Freudian lens. (That effort provoked an outcry among Lewis lovers.)

But Wilson never fully disbelieved, just as before his conversion he never fully believed.

"My doubting temperament ... made me a very unconvincing atheist," he writes in the New Statesman article.

That is why, he says, he should have distrusted the radical sense of relief he felt when he underwent his reverse Damascus Road experience. Now, he chronicles a more gradual conversion back to Christian belief. In last Saturday's Daily Mail, he wrote:

But, as time passed, I found myself going back to church, although at first only as a fellow traveller with the believers, not as one who shared the faith that Jesus had truly risen from the grave. Some time over the past five or six years - I could not tell you exactly when - I found that I had changed.

This gradual transition echoes C. S. Lewis's account of his transition from unbelief to faith. He knew vaguely when it happened, but it was not a blinding, fall-off-the-horse experience. And because of its more gradual nature, Wilson now seems to trust this new experience more.

One more thing worth noting: There is a strong aesthetic dimension to Wilson's return to belief. Unlike many atheists and former believers, Wilson's testimony does not hinge on what empirical science does or does not tell us. He tells us frankly that the arguments provided by atheist friends of a scientific bent were as creedal and stretching as many assertions by Christians.

A materialist Darwinian was having dinner with me a few years ago and we laughingly alluded to how, as years go by, one forgets names. Eager, as committed Darwinians often are, to testify on any occasion, my friend asserted: "lt is because when we were simply anthropoid apes, there was no need to distinguish between one another by giving names."

This credal confession struck me as just as superstitious as believing in the historicity of Noah's Ark. More so, really. Do materialists really think that language just "evolved", like finches' beaks. or have they simply never thought about the matter rationally? Where's the evidence?

The aesthetic dimension dominates the empirical for Wilson because there was something about the great Christian artists and writers of past centuries that somehow seemed true to reality. (Wilson opposes J. S. Bach to David Hume and Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Gilbert Ryle.)

Because of the gradual nature of Wilson's re-conversion, we trust he will continue to grow in grace and understanding and trust in God - as should we all, whether our conversion happened in a flash or stretched over many years.

* * *

The Victorian era saw many Christians become atheists--and then return to faith, much as A. N. Wilson has done in 2009. Read Timothy Larsen's account of their double conversions in "Victorian Skeptics on the Road to Damascus" from the Christian History website.

Posted by David Neff at April 14, 2009 10:25AM | Comments (23)

"On the third day he rose again."

But have you ever wondered how it works out to three days, when the chronology of Jesus' death and resurrection--Friday afternoon to the early hours of Sunday morning--only takes 36 hours or so? And doesn't Jesus compound the problem when he foretells his death and resurrection in Matthew's gospel: "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth"?

Over at Zondervan's Koinonia blog, Walter C. Kaiser Jr. explains that "three days and three nights was a stereotypical phrase that allowed the full day and night to be counted when any part of that time was included."

Posted by Ted Olsen at April 13, 2009 1:18PM | Comments (1)

Books & Culture Editor John Wilson likes David Dark's new book, The Sacredness of Questioning Everything, but he has some searching questions for the author. Here's the podcast of his discussion with Stan Guthrie.

Posted by Stan Guthrie at April 9, 2009 4:56PM | Comments (0)

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to meet over the phone Daniel Furst, who was telling me about a drama that I had never heard of before.

It's called, "The Quarrel." Click on the play button for a 4 minute YouTube video about this play

The amazing news is that "The Quarrel" will be staged twice this weekend, on Easter Sunday, April 12. But, of course, you have to live in southern California to take it in. (See below for performance details if you are lucky enough to be close by.)

Passover and Easter are powerful times for folks with cosmic questions about God, the Bible, and the meaning of life to explore the answers, hopefully in a faith-based (and orthodox) context.

Every year, I have found new friends with deep hurts who are grappling with theological questions that dramatists and screenwriters skillfully explore on our behalf, while we are at a safe distance away in the audience.

True confession, I was a lit major as an undergraduate, so I have a life-long weakness for powerful drama. I don't think "The Quarrel" will disappoint. Rabbi Joseph Teluskin, one of two playwrights for "The Quarrel," notes that Christians are becoming big fans of this modern Jewish drama with a Holocaust theme.

Perhaps this is because the storyline, though Jewish, mirrors many of the identical questions that Christians have about a loving God, an evil world, and the possibilities for reconciliation.

Here is additional information from the press kit:

The enormously popular, critically acclaimed Off-Broadway hit play, The Quarrel is coming to the Brandeis-Bardin Auditorium, located at 1101 Peppertree Lane in Simi Valley, CA on Sunday, April 12th at 8:00 pm. An additional 3:00 pm matinee performance has been added due to popular demand. Part of all proceeds will be donated to iVolunteer, a non-profit organization and visitation program that pairs volunteers with Holocaust survivors, providing them with companionship and case assistance www.ivolunteerny.com .

The Quarrel has played to impressive reviews and standing ovations around the country, most recently off Broadway at New York City’s DR2 Theatre. The questions that are raised in the Quarrel are still pertinent today; can you love someone whose views you really can’t stand? How can one believe in Gd when we are surrounded by so much injustice and hardship?

The story takes place years after the Holocaust and focuses on characters Chaim (Sam Guncler; Conversations with My Father, Law and Order, The Sopranos) and Hersh (Reuven Russell; Chaplin, ER, Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys). The two men were inseparable as schoolmates in prewar Europe, until a soul-shattering fight launched them on different paths. Both lost their entire families during the war and naturally assumed the other was also killed. One is now a free-living writer, the other a pious rabbi. The Quarrel begins as, years later; they accidentally meet in a park. Shocked, they soon recover, reminisce, and resume the life-altering argument that drove them apart.

Originally an acclaimed 1950 short story by the Yiddish master Chaim Grade, "Mayn Krig mit Hersh Rasseyner (My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner)" was adapted for the screen in 1991 by award-winning screenwriter and producer David Brandis (Showtime series My Life As a Dog, HBO series the Strangers) and noted rabbi and author, Joseph Telushkin (An Eye for an Eye, The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism; co-written with Dennis Prager). The success of that award-winning film prompted the writers to take a fresh look at the piece with an eye toward enhancing its theatricality with a stage adaptation. In 1999, The Quarrel opened in New Jersey, breaking existing box office records before going on tour.

Advance tickets may be purchased at www.thequarreltheplay.com. For information regarding group rates, contact Shoshana at (310) 278-5562.

Posted by Tim Morgan at April 9, 2009 4:41PM | Comments (0)

Maundy Thursday is the day the church remembers the Last Supper and Jesus' washing of the disciples' feet. Anglican "blogger" Barbara Gauthier posted this ancient hymn on her daily newsletter:

What could be stranger than this?
What more awesome?

He who is clothed with light as with a garment (Ps. 104:2)
is girded with a towel.

He who binds up the waters in His clouds (Job 26:8),
who sealed the abyss by His fearful Name,
is bound with a girdle.

He who gathers together
the waters of the sea as in a vessel (Ps. 33:7)
now pours water in to a basin.

He who covers the tops of the heavens with water (Ps. 104:3)
washes in water the feet of His disciples.

He who has weighed the heavens with His palm
and the earth with three fingers (Is. 40:12)
now wipes with undefiled palms
the soles of His servants’ feet.

He before whom every knee should bow,
of those that are in heaven,
on earth and under the earth (Phil.2:10)
now kneels before His servants.

Cyril of Alexandria (375-444)

Posted by Mark Galli at April 9, 2009 11:56AM | Comments (1)

On the CT podcast blog I discuss some of the political and theological implications of the new push for homosexual marriage. John Blok of Prime Time Florida hosts.

Posted by Stan Guthrie at April 9, 2009 11:39AM | Comments (1)

The following podcasts are now available:

What is the Gospel?
Darrell Bock moderates a Christian Book Expo panel with Richard Stearns, Mark D. Roberts, Tullian Tchividjian, and Justin Taylor.

The Emerging Church
Mark Galli moderates a Christian Book Expo panel with Scot McKnight, Tony Jones, Kevin DeYoung, and Alex and Brett Harris.

They are each about an hour and a half. More podcast panel discussions, which are already available on this Liveblog in video format, will be available tomorrow.

UPDATE: The other three panel discussion podcasts will, God willing, be made available next week. Sorry for the delay.

Posted by Stan Guthrie at April 8, 2009 4:38PM | Comments (6)

Some observers point to the new American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) as evidence that religion is finally in decline in the United States. However, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge say the nation's free-market principles of innovation and competition help keep religion vibrant.

Religion, no less than software or politics, is a competitive business, where organization and entrepreneurship count. Religious America is led by a series of highly inventive "pastorpreneurs" -- men like Bill Hybels of Willow Creek or Rick Warren of Saddleback. These are far more sober, thoughtful characters than the schlock-and-scandal televangelists of the 1970s, but they are not afraid to use modern business methods to get God's message across.

The authors, who this week are releasing their book God is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith is Changing the World (Penguin), have nothing to say in their Wall Street Journal article about how the forces of capitalism may affect orthodoxy for good or ill. But it is probably fair to say that reports of religion's death have been greatly exaggerated.

Posted by Stan Guthrie at April 7, 2009 8:26AM | Comments (5)

On March 21, William Lane Craig and Christopher Hitchens were part of a larger, CT-sponsored panel discussion on "Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?" After listing multiple argument's for God's existence that he said Hitchens failed to address, in his closing statement Craig, author of Reasonable Faith and a CT cover story on arguments for God's existence, warned Hitchens, author of God Is not Great, to come better prepared to deal with the arguments at their scheduled debate at Biola University on April 4, on the question, "Does God Exist?"

That Biola debate was indeed held this past weekend, drawing thousands of spectators (confirming a CT report on the popularity of such events). The Evangelical Philosophical Society provides a helpful roundup of the coverage.

Who won? Read the summary transcript and coverage and decide for yourself. Biola prof Doug Geivett had this to say in his snap analysis:

[T]his debate exposed a difference in preparation on the part of these two debaters. This is far more significant than it might seem at first. William Lane Craig has debated this topic dozens of times, without wavering from the same basic pattern of argument. He presents the same arguments in the same form, and presses his opponents in the same way for arguments in defense of their own worldviews. He's consistent. He's predictable. One might think that this is a liability, that it's too risky to face a new opponent who has so much opportunity to review Craig's specific strategy. But tonight's debate proves otherwise. Hitchens can have no excuse for dropping arguments when he knows - or should know - exactly what to expect. Suppose one replies that William Craig is a more experienced debater and a trained philosopher, while Christopher Hitchens is a journalist working outside the Academy. That simply won't do as a defense of Hitchens. First, Hitchens is no stranger to debate. Second, he is clearly a skillful polemicist. Third - and most important - Hitchens published a book, god Is Not Great, in which he makes bold claims against religion in general and Christianity in particular. With his book, he threw down the challenge. To his credit, he rose to meet a skillful challenger. But did he rise to the occasion? Did he acquit himself well? At one point he acknowledged that some of his objections to the designer argument were "layman's" objections. His book, I believe, is also the work of a layman. It appears to have been written for popular consumption and without concern for accountability to Christians whose lives are dedicated to the defense of the Gospel.

UPDATE: CT plans to post podcasts of the five author panel discussions starting later this week.

Posted by Stan Guthrie at April 6, 2009 3:25PM | Comments (4)

The Senate just passed an amendment to lower the estate tax. CT last reported on Obama's budget recommendation to maintain the estate tax at 2009 levels: 45 percent on assets after $3.5 million or $7 million for couples.

The Senate voted to allow exemptions up to $10 million and tax estates at 35 percent above that level.

The question (for those of us not worried about being affected by this) is: Will the new level decrease charitable giving, since it encourages people to hang on to their money?

Posted by Rob Moll at April 3, 2009 7:56PM | Comments (2)

In four years, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge killed 1.7 million of their fellow Cambodians. In the first trial that addresses the horrors of the regime, the man known as Comrade Duch has asked forgiveness for crimes against humanity, war crimes, homicide, and torture.

Duch is the nom de guerre of Kaing Guek Eav. He ran Security Center 21, a prison where 17,000 people, including children were "smashed." As The Financial Times reports, that's "the Khmer Rouge's chilling euphemism for torturing and murdering victims as part of the regime's attempt to create a perfect agrarian society."

Duch is making the news for taking responsibility and apologizing - something none of the other accused have come close to. "At the beginning I only prayed to ask for forgiveness from my parents, but later I prayed to ask forgiveness from the whole nation."

Prayed? It's not a mistranslation. Duch was baptized under the pseudonym Hang Pin after his wife was murdered in 1996. Purpose Driven Connection published a story about his conversion and discovery by British journalist Nic Dunlop (Dunlop discovered Duch's identity; Mary Murphy wrote the Purpose Driven Connection article). Their reporter, Mary Murphy, spoke to his pastor the only one who has been let in to see him. He says Duch has been reading the Bible to prisoners and guards during his imprisonment.

However, Murphy reports,

Truth be told, it is hard to find many in Cambodia who believe in Duch's sincerity. [Chief investigator] Youk skirts around the spiritual implications of the question. He pauses for a while to collect his thoughts. "I think Duch was living with guilt and perhaps looking for something to reconcile with, within himself," he says. "Duch is looking for an exit strategy, an internal reconciliation with himself. But he dare not go to anybody here, because they are all his enemies. The only ones he can go to are Christians."

Buddhist monks I interview later at their temple are even more dismissive. "Duch has become a Christian to earn points," one monk scoffs. "In our belief, you take your sins with you to the next life. Duch will surely come back in a form befitting his crime."

What sort of form of life? The monk doesn't hesitate. "A bug."

Duch's defense is arguing that he shouldn't face the life sentence because he was following orders, trying to save his and his family's lives. He says he is a scapegoat for those who were higher up in the regime. The trial is expected to last a few months.

Posted by Susan Wunderink at April 2, 2009 9:17AM | Comments (4)

Perhaps because of articles like this, suggesting a new Great Depression is upon us, or TV shows like this, suggesting we just might avoid that fate, or maybe because we've all got friends, family, or neighbors who are out of work, but Americans have quickly adopted new mores when it comes to public displays of money.

Even those who are well off, in consideration of others who are financially hurting, are toning down any evidence of conspicuous consumption. "I just feel so decadent with all the stuff I've got," says Ethel Knox.

And the values replacing those of consumption are laudable. "I think this economy was a good way to cure my compulsive shopping habit," Maxine Frankel, 59, a high school teacher from Skokie, Ill., said as she longingly stroked a diaphanous black shawl at a shop in the nearby Chicago suburb of Glenview. "It's kind of funny, but I feel much more satisfied with the things money can't buy, like the well-being of my family. I'm just not seeking happiness from material things anymore."

Another trend is appearing among the friends and family of those who are less well off. What's the best way to help your friends? "For all the people who are struggling to pay the bills," writes The New York Times financial columnist Ron Leiber, "there are many in their inner circle who have been agonizing for months over how or whether to write them a check." Loaning a friend money, for example, can put a real strain on a relationship, especially if the giver is worried about not being paid back or feels the receiver isn't using the money well.

Some people are setting up websites so others can anonymously help someone in need. A church, Leiber points out, also works well as a charitable middleman. "Sue Barnet of Wetumpka, Ala., arrived home one day in November to find a $200 check in the mail. The bookstore where she worked had closed, and someone from her church had given the money anonymously to her minister and asked that he forward it."

It's one small way churches can step up during this recession. And they need to, says Bradford Wilcox. With the expanded governement services on offer from the Obama administration, churches will be pushed out of the social service sector. "Charitable spending by churches declined 30% in the wake of the New Deal," Wilcox reports, "and that nearly all of the decrease can be accounted for by increases in public spending in the 1930s." And those services are the best thing churches have to get new folks in the door.

Posted by Rob Moll at April 1, 2009 8:05PM | Comments (1)

The New Atheists usually make two charges against Christianity: (1) that it is untrue and (2) that it is harmful. A panel of apologetics experts responds to an atheist critic with evidence from Scripture, science, and history about why the faith is both reasonable and good for the world. Christianity Today’s Stan Guthrie moderated this panel on March 21, 2009 for the Christian Book Expo in Dallas.

Panelists:
•Lee Strobel, The Case for the Real Jesus, The Case for a Creator (Zondervan)
•William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith (Crossway)
•Douglas Wilson, Is Christianity Good for the World? (Canon Press)
•Christopher Hitchens, Is Christianity Good for the World? (Canon Press) and God Is Not Great (Twelve Books)
•Jim Denison, Wrestling with God (Tyndale)

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at April 1, 2009 3:50PM | Comments (0)

We hear much about the emerging church, but pinning down its beliefs and goals can be challenging. What is the movement emerging from and where is it headed? How influential is the emerging church? Participants, observers, and critics examine this movement from all angles - biblical, theological, pastoral, and missional. Christianity Today's Mark Galli moderated this panel on March 21, 2009 for the Christian Book Expo in Dallas.

Panelists:
•Scot McKnight, The Blue Parakeet (Zondervan)
•Tony Jones, The New Christians (Jossey-Bass)
•Kevin DeYoung, Why We Are Not Emergent (Moody)
•Alex and Brett Harris, Do Hard Things (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at April 1, 2009 3:50PM | Comments (6)

A Christian consensus could once be pretty much assumed for Western culture, even if many people didn't possess personal faith. That is no longer true. Christianity is today viewed as just one of many spiritual options - and often with suspicion. How do followers of Christ respond in both word and deed? Christianity Today's Andy Crouch moderated this panel on March 20, 2009 for the Christian Book Expo in Dallas.

Panelists:
•Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz (Nelson)
•Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms (Inter-Varsity Press)
•Randy Frazee, Making Room for Life (Zondervan)
•Mary E. DeMuth, Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture (Harvest House)

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at April 1, 2009 3:48PM | Comments (2)

Polls show that more Americans believe in heaven than in hell. The Bible, however, tells us both are real destinations. What are heaven and hell like, and how do we enter one and avoid the other? Author experts examine the afterlife from theological, pastoral - and personal - perspectives. Christianity Today's Mark Galli moderated this panel on March 20, 2009 for the Christian Book Expo in Dallas. Here's a video courtesy of Tangle.

Panelists:
•Don Piper, 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life (Baker)
•Sam Storms, The Hope of Glory (Crossway)
•Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Tyndale)
•J I Packer, Knowing God (Inter-Varsity Press)

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at April 1, 2009 3:47PM | Comments (2)

Is there one gospel, or many? A panel of pastors and scholars shows why we can trust our Bibles - and how to separate the doctrinal wheat from the chaff. Darrell Bock moderated this panel on March 20, 2009, for the Christian Book Expo in Dallas. Here's a video courtesy of Tangle.

Panelists:
•Richard Stearns, President, World Vision International and author of The Hole in Our Gospel (Nelson)
•Mark D. Roberts, Can We Trust the Gospels? (Crossway)
•Tullian Tchividjian, Do I Know God? (Multnomah)
•Justin Taylor, The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World (Crossway)

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at April 1, 2009 3:39PM | Comments (1)

Oh Twitter. Don't be fooled by it today.

Relevant Editor Cameron Strang posted a message that almost fooled many of us at CT: "Many of you know I've been on sabbatical for a while. Full story is last month I had to sell Relevant. Now looks like I won't be going back."

Just a few months ago, Strang posted these messages with no further explanation: "Just got some devastating, life-will-never-be-the-same-again kind of news. Please pray for me. Sorry for being vague. Still in shock. BTW, thanks to everyone who's prayed for me this week. It's been the worst of my life, but God is still God. My faith's still strong. Thanks"

But he texted me and said, "It was a joke! I'm fine, Relevant's fine. I'm still there. :)"

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at April 1, 2009 11:48AM | Comments (2)