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
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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:
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Jerry Falwell, R.I.P. (1933-2007)
“The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who founded the Moral Majority and built the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University . . . He was 73″ (Associated Press).
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Jerry Falwell in Grave Condition
From the Associated Press: The Rev. Jerry Falwell was in “gravely serious” condition after being found unconscious in his office, a Liberty University executive said Tuesday.
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CCM Redefines “Christian Music”
The popular “Christian Music” magazine is changing its M.O. according to this recent press release: CCM Magazine, Christian music’s preeminent publication, is changing its definition of “Christian music” with its May 2007 issue to raise the profile of independent and general market artists of faith.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Why Remember the Martyrs? (Part 2)
Jeffrey Weiss of the Dallas Morning News continues our conversation from yesterday in a piece titled, “Does dying for religion’s sake merit extra attention?” I think that title is not the best way to frame the question. I say this because for some people such martyrdoms will merit extra attention, and for other people they won’t.
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Why Remember the Martyrs?
In an attempt to raise awareness about the Turkish martyrs, I sent their story to a religion writer at the Dallas Morning News. He posted links to reports about them on the Dallas Morning News religion blog: “The killing of Christians in Turkey.” Unfortunately, one of the other religion writers at the Dallas Morning News got rankled by my concern for the martyrs. His frustration with me is posted here: “With all due respect to Professor Burk.” This reporter’s main problem with my efforts is that he thinks I am paying too little attention to all the suffering in the world. The murder of three Christians is not such a…