• Christianity,  Politics

    The New Breed of Evangelicals

    The New York Times has an article today about the “new breed” of evangelicals. Predictably, the article suggests that: The new breed of evangelical leaders — often to the dismay of those who came before them — are more likely to speak out about more liberal causes like AIDS, Darfur, poverty and global warming than controversial social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. I think this line represents as much wishful thinking as it does reporting. The rest of the article bears out the fact that the life-issue still remains at the top of the list of policy priorities for evangelicals. I don’t expect that to change anytime soon, no…

  • Christianity,  Culture

    Billy Graham on Jerry Falwell

    The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association released these remarks from Billy Graham concerning the death of Jerry Falwell: “I knew him to be a man of God. His accomplishments went beyond most clergy of his generation. Some of my grandchildren have attended and currently attend Liberty University. He leaves a gigantic vacuum in the evangelical world.” –Billy Graham

  • Christianity,  Culture

    The Legacy of Jerry Falwell

    The panelists at the “On Faith” site of the Washington Post are discussing the legacy of Dr. Jerry Falwell. So far, there are only two responses, one by Susan Jacoby and the other by R. Albert Mohler, but I expect that we’ll see many more. I’ll post some of my own reflections later. Dr. Mohler writes:

  • Christianity

    ETS Executive Committee on Beckwith

    The executive committee of the ETS has just released a statement concerning the resignation of Dr. Francis Beckwith. The executive committee says that Roman Catholic theology is incompatible with the doctrinal basis of the ETS. Here are the relevant lines: The Executive Committee recognizes Dr. Beckwith’s resignation as President and subsequent withdrawal from membership as appropriate in light of the purpose and doctrinal basis of the Evangelical Theological Society and in light of the requirements of wholehearted confessional agreement with the Roman Catholic Church. The work of the Evangelical Theological Society as a scholarly forum proceeds on the basis that “the Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety, is…

  • Christianity

    Francis Beckwith Resigns His ETS Membership

    Dr. Francis Beckwith resigned from the presidency of ETS over the weekend. He announces today that he is resigning his membership as well. He writes: Although I firmly believe that I can sign the ETS doctrinal statement in good conscience, my high-profile presence in ETS will likely result in the sort of public conflict that occurred during the debate over the openness view of God and the attempt on the part of some members to oust believers in that view.  Because, as I noted in my prior posting on this matter, that I deeply desire a public conversation among Christians about the relationship between Evangelicalism and the Great Tradition, a…

  • Christianity

    President of Evangelical Theological Society Becomes Roman Catholic

    Dr. Francis Beckwith announced his return to the Roman Catholic Church today. He also announced the he has resigned from the presidency of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). I did not post about this news yesterday when I heard about it because I suspected that Dr. Beckwith had not authorized the bloggers who were writing about it to make the announcement for him. It turns out that I was right. But now that the cat’s out of the bag, Dr. Beckwith has posted his own explanation of his recent conversion and how he intended to phase out quietly from his leadership position in the ETS. Here’s the link: “My Return…