News

Disgraced former Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt plans a return to ministry after completing a restoration process overseen by four pastors, according to a video released last week. Hunt, a longtime megachurch pastor in Georgia, was named earlier this year in the Guidepost Solutions report on sexual abuse in the SBC, which alleged that Hunt had sexually assaulted another pastor’s wife.

With Christmas approaching, Christine Trotter explores part of the story that is usually omitted: Mary travels from Nazareth to Judea to visit her relative Elisabeth, an older woman who speaks prophetically to Mary and informs her that she is pregnant with the Lord. Trotter outlines what else we know about Elisabeth, why her character is frequently left out of the Christmas story, and why she should be included as a prophetic voice.

For the second time in as many years, a university affiliated with the Missouri Baptist Convention has seen its accreditation placed on a two-year probation amid controversy about mismanagement and poor trustee governance.

Nick Fuentes, the 24-year-old white supremacist and Christian nationalist leader who dined Tuesday evening with Trump and the rapper Ye, has brought criticism for the former president, who had only a week before launched a new campaign for the White House.

In cities across Europe, officials are wrestling with a choice as energy prices have gone up because of Russia’s war in Ukraine: Dim Christmas lighting to send a message of energy conservation and solidarity or let the lights blaze in a message of defiance after two years of pandemic-suppressed Christmas seasons.

Shortly after Elon Musk officially took charge of Twitter last month, Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, joined a group of civil rights advocates for a meeting with the newly minted social media mogul. Among advocates’ chief concerns: that Musk, a self-declared “free speech absolutist,” would reactivate previously banned accounts — including that of former President Donald Trump.

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy offers lessons we can glean from the upcoming Georgia runoff election. He argues that the Social Gospel, “the politics of Jesus,” needs rediscovering. In this recovery, it will not be about whether Warnock or Walker wins the Senate seat. The Social Gospel will not center on how people vote but rather on how the church takes the opportunity to be an alternative to the politics of the world.

Robert D. Cornwall reviews "Buried Seeds: Learning from the Vibrant Resilience of Marginalized Christian Communities" by Alexia Salvatierra and Brandon Wrencher. This book explores the fact that many marginalized Christian communities live without the traditional trappings of institutional religion. Nevertheless, they often thrive – so, perhaps there is much to learn from them.

Our democracy is in trouble and we need to elect pro-democracy candidates. But what if that isn’t sufficient? That’s why Christopher Beem wrote "The Seven Democratic Virtues: What You Can do to Overcome Tribalism and Save Our Democracy." A political scientist with a background in religious ethics, Beem brings the best of both traditions to bear on one of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Two scholars, Jill Hicks-Keeton, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, and Cavan Concannon, a professor at the University of Southern California, have teamed up for a second time to examine and explore The Museum of the Bible’s exhibits, theatrical experiences, publications, funding and partnerships. The book argues that the museum is part of a larger 100-year-old project of white evangelical institution-building.