Church

Russell Moore, the embattled Southern Baptist ethicist and “Never Trumper,” is resigning as president of his denomination’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Moore will be joining the staff of Christianity Today as a public theologian.

Over the past two years, James Lindsay has been on a crusade against what he sees as a ‘woke’ invasion of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. And some Southern Baptist leaders are embracing the work of the atheist hoaxer and former massage therapist,

The next decisions impacting Southwest Baptist University won’t be made in closed trustee meetings or Missouri Baptist Convention sessions. Now the faculty, students, alumni, and trustees await decision from two non-Baptist groups that could determine the future of the school.

Trustees cited a lack of money and declining enrollment in deciding to close Baptist-affiliated Judson College, a small school for women which predates the Civil War. The decision Thursday came just days after what could be the last graduation exercises at the college.

The last eighteen months or so have been difficult for pastors. Already stretched with the day-to-day concerns of running a congregation at a time when organized religion is on the decline, they’ve increasingly found that the divides facing the nation have made their way inside the walls of the church.

Traumatic events are, at their heart, crises of meaning that cause people to question assumptions about their lives, including their spiritual beliefs. The years 2020 and 2021 certainly fit that bill.

During the pandemic, coffee fellowship time at churches disappeared. That time of socializing is one of the things that churchgoers have missed most about meeting in person.

Some preachers hire researchers to do the Bible reading and background research and interpretation on a specific text — known as exegesis — or to provide insights about cultural trends affecting the church. Others find a ghostwriter to help them put it all together.

“Cancel culture” is not wholly embraced on the left, nor is it unknown among political or religious conservatives. In fact, cancel culture should have a ring of familiarity for Christians with echoes of the phenomenon in the history of the church.

Preachers love to borrow from each other, but the practice can sometimes lead to plagiarism. Theologically, this raises serious concerns and can even lead to a pastor being fired.