• Theology/Bible

    The Inimitable Douglas Wilson on N. T. Wright

    The inimitable Douglas Wilson on what evangelical Episcopalians should do in light of their denomination’s decision to ordain homosexuals as bishops: I am a Presbyterian American, and so it is not really my place to give unsolicited advice to my friends who really like the prayer book. But if they asked, and if I thought I could give input without giving offense, I would encourage them to get their white little Anglican rear-ends into submission to an orthodox African bishop somewhere (source). Wilson is not the only outsider who has considered offering such unsolicited advice. I felt like doing that very thing in my interview with one such pastor two…

  • Culture,  Theology/Bible

    Liberal Christianity Is Paying for Its Sins

    You absolutely must read Charlotte Allen’s opinion editorial from Sunday’s Los Angeles Times: “Liberal Christianity Is Paying for Its Sins.” Here are some highlights: You want to have gay sex? Be a female bishop? Change God’s name to Sophia? Go ahead. The just-elected Episcopal presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, is a one-woman combination of all these things, having voted for Robinson, blessed same-sex couples in her Nevada diocese, prayed to a female Jesus at the Columbus convention and invited former Newark, N.J., bishop John Shelby Spong, famous for denying Christ’s divinity, to address her priests. The Presbyterian Church USA . . . was turning itself into the laughingstock of the…

  • Theology/Bible

    TIME Magazine Takes a Whack at President Bush (and misses)

    Well, I can say this much. The cover story of the latest issue of Time magazine is at least provocative: “The End of Cowboy Diplomacy: Why the Bush Doctrine no longer guides the foreign policy of the Bush Administration.” I wish I could say that the article is as insightful as its title is provocative. But it’s not. It is one of the sorriest pieces of analysis that I have read in a long time.In a nutshell, the article argues that the current litany of global crises have put to the lie “the Bush Doctrine” of foreign policy. In other words, an unpopular war in Iraq, a growing insurgency in…

  • Culture,  Personal,  Theology/Bible

    Podcast of Interview with Dan Wallace

    For those who are interested in listening to the interview I did with Dan Wallace (see previous post), I will have a podcast available for download next week. The producer of the radio program usually gives me the mp3 of the program on the day after the show. But since today is Friday, the earliest I’ll get the mp3 will be on Monday.In the meantime, you can sign up for the podcast by searching for “Denny Burk” in the iTunes music store. Or you can add the podcast directly to iTunes using the following link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DennyBurk-Podcast. Past shows in which I have participated include interviews with a wide variety of…

  • Personal,  Theology/Bible

    Dan Wallace on Reinventing Jesus

    I will be co-hosting the radio program “Jerry Johnson Live” today, and our guest on the show will be my old mentor Dr. Dan Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Wallace has just published a book titled Reinventing Jesus, in which he takes on the likes of Bart Ehrman and his radical views on the Bible.As you may know, Bart Ehrman has been making the media rounds promoting his book Misquoting Jesus. In this book, Ehrman mounts a full-scale assault on the doctrine of inerrancy. Unlike his more scholarly tomes, Ehrman is reaching a popular audience with this particular book. The wide reach of Misquoting Jesus is attested by Ehrman’s…

  • Book Reviews,  Personal,  Theology/Bible

    Barry Breaks-in to Blogosphere

    My best friend of 22 years, Barry Joslin, has a new blog, on which he has posted a favorable review of a certain book (a book whose name I don’t want to mention seeing as how I don’t want to appear self-serving, though please don’t expect me to direct your attention to any negative reviews of said book ).Go check out Barry’s new site. As the kids say, it’s da bomb!

  • Culture,  Theology/Bible

    Newsweek Promotes God’s Girls

    In an article titled “God’s Girls,” Newsweek magazine reports that many major Christian Churches are behind the times in promoting women to the highest levels of denominational leadership. Women make up 61 percent of all Americans who attend religious congregations, but they still struggle for their place in some denominations. A national study led by researchers at Hartford Seminary found that only 12 percent of the clergy in the 15 largest Protestant denominations are women. And some 112 million Americans belong to denominations that don’t ordain women at all, including Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Southern Baptists, Mormons, Muslims and Orthodox Jews (source). Is Newsweek really suggesting that the high…

  • Culture,  Theology/Bible

    Who do Wiccans worship?

    There’s an interesting item in today’s Washington Post about a soldier killed in Afghanistan who was a Wiccan. The fact that a veteran’s cemetary is not letting his widow put a pentacle (a pagan symbol, pictured right) on his memorial is a controversy in itself.But what jumped off the page to me in the Post article was it’s description of Wicca: Wiccans still suffer, however, from the misconception that they are devil worshipers. Some Wiccans call themselves witches, pagans or neopagans. Most of their rituals revolve around the cycles of nature, such as equinoxes and phases of the moon. Wiccans often pick and choose among religious traditions, blending belief in…

  • Culture,  Politics,  Theology/Bible

    Where Atrocity Is Normal

    Patrick Stone’s essay in Christianity Today is powerful and poignant. In “Where Atrocity Is Normal: Understanding Christian soldiers who have seen the horrors of war,” Stone recounts his own experience in Vietnam and reminds us of the atrocities of war and the impossible moral choices that face Christians who participate in them.Not only are the war stories tragic, but so also is his description of what his experience has been since coming home from Vietnam: Following my return from Vietnam I spent most Sunday mornings in a church pew wondering, “What does this have to do with what I saw and did in Vietnam?” . . . Since leaving Vietnam…

  • Book Reviews,  Theology/Bible

    Review of The Last Word by N. T. Wright

    N. T. Wright. The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2005. 160pp. $19.95. I appreciate Bishop N. T. Wright’s willingness to address the church through writing popular books. Wright is the consummate scholar and is perfectly capable of producing the kind of work that would only be accessible to specialists in the field of New Testament studies. Yet over the years he has included among his prolific output books addressed to the interested layman. His recent short work, The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture, is one such book.