Yesterday, embattled Professor Larycia Hawkins held a rally in response to Wheaton College administration’s intent to terminate her. If you haven’t been keeping up with this story, I encourage you to read Joe Carter’s explainer here. You can watch the entire rally above, including a statement from Professor Hawkins herself (which begins at 28:30). The main thing that I take away from Hawkins’s statement is its defiance—especially at the end. Here’s a transcript of about the last three minutes or so of her remarks:
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A religious test for conservative Christians in academia
In terms of cultural influence, there is hardly any group more consequential than the faculty members of elite universities. They have an incalculable impact on emerging generations of leaders in business and politics and other fields that define our national life. How do they come to this position of influence? The first and most important qualification is the Ph.D. degree. Who determines who gets Ph.D.’s in our country? Little groups of faculty members meeting in little rooms determine who gets into the programs and thus who will comprise the future faculties of our nation’s colleges and universities. How do these committees do their work?
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Interview with Michael Brown on “Line of Fire”
Many thanks to Dr. Michael Brown who recently interviewed me about the new book Transforming Homosexuality. You can download the interview here or listen below. The interview begins at 55:00. You can subscribe to Dr. Brown’s podcast at his website here.
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When transgenderism hurts children
Many people treat gender identity conflicts and sexual orientation as if they are the same. If a sexual orientation is something you are born with and is thus immutable (a claim I would contest as a Christian), then gender identity must work the same way. It’s something you’re born with and can’t be changed. If therefore a child embraces a gender identity at odds with his/her biological sex, then it would be harmful and wrong to try and change that gender identity to align with the child’s biological sex. It would be harmful and wrong in the same way that trying to change sexual orientation is harmful and wrong. Because…
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A Plan To Read the Greek New Testament in a Year
Several years ago, I created a plan to read through the Greek New Testament in a year. For the most part, it tracks pretty closely with Lee Irons’ excellent schedule for reading the Greek New Testament in a year. My plan, however, varies a little bit. Because John’s writing is simpler Greek, my schedule goes through John’s Gospel at a faster pace than Irons’. As a result, there are no readings scheduled at the end of the year from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve. These open dates at the end can be used as catch-up days. The schedule is given in two formats below. DOC – Read the Greek…
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A Plan To Read through the Bible in 2016
In years past, my customary mode for reading the Bible through every year involved starting in Genesis and reading right through to Revelation. I estimated that about four chapters per day would get me through in under a year’s time. The method worked reasonably well, but it wasn’t without its problems. Sometimes I would miss a day (or days) and get behind, and I had no way to keep up with my progress. I needed a schedule so that I could keep myself accountable for finishing in a year.
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Let every heart prepare him room!
How could there possibly be anything more mysterious and wonderful than the incarnation of Jesus Christ? God became a man. God took on mortal human flesh and became subject to all the things that every other mortal is subject to. He sneezed. He coughed. He got headaches and an upset stomach. Every morning he got up, shook the dust out of His hair, and put his hand to the plow in his Father’s field. Jesus Christ was not only subject to sickness, but also to death. The eternal Son of God was die-able. In fact, he did die. And three days later, what was mortal became swallowed up by immortality…
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Pastor Tommy Nelson interviewed about bomb threat
By now, you have likely seen Pastor Tommy Nelson’s letter to his congregation in the wake of a bomb threat the church received against its Christmas Eve service. It is gritty, Christian stuff. Last night, Tommy was interviewed by NBC News’s local affiliate. Watch it above. Read the letter below. It’s vintage Tommy. Y’all, Take a knee. You’ve probably heard by this time if you watch the news that we have had our first gen-u-ine bomb threat. It came in the mail Monday afternoon from a gen-u-ine super villian. Wouldn’t you know, it came 24 hours after I had boasted of our fair city’s apathy versus Dallas’s tirades. Anyway, though…
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The Remarkable Woman behind ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’
Karen Swallow Prior has a fascinating piece at TGC about the author of “In the Bleak Mid-Winter.” Her name is Christina Rossetti (1830–1894), and Prior writes that she was a woman of “deep Christian conviction.” Prior concludes: The paradox of Rossetti’s life is that her “spirit of self-postponement” produced some of the finest Christian poetry written—the gift of herself, given to her Savior and received by the world. I commend to you the rest of Prior’s essay, which you can read here. I also recommend two versions of the song that are staples around my house during this time of year. My favorite version is Shawn Colvin’s, and a close…
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Christmas in Kentucky… Everywhere It’s Christmas
On his most recent Christmas album, Steven Curtis Chapman sings a song about returning to his hometown of Paducah, Kentucky for Christmas. One might expect a song like this one to be sappy nostalgia along the lines of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” or “Tennessee Christmas,” but it’s not. This is not the song of a child, but the song of a grown man who’s walked long enough with God to know that Christ came not just for folks like him but for the whole world. It’s the best news in the world. I love this song. In the video above, you can hear the song in its entirety as…