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Humanitarian organization calls verdict “unjust” as questions about lack of public evidence of terrorism persist. Update (Aug. 30): A World Vision International employee has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in Israel for terrorism. The humanitarian organization says Mohammad el-Halabi’s conviction is unjust and the Israeli court’s ruling is “in sharp contrast to the evidence and facts of the case.” According to prosecutors, the former director of aid to Gaza diverted funds and resources meant for hungry children and farmers to Hamas terrorists building tunnels and planning attacks on Israel. “These are very severe deeds, the defendant funded terror with millions of shekels, helped strengthen the Hamas tunnel network,” prosecutor Moran Gez told press . Citing security concerns, little of the evidence has been made available to the public. According to Gez, however, “The court left no stone unturned in this case.” Outside observers have questioned not only the court’s verdict,...

When leaders admit wrongdoing, we should respond with quiet sobriety, not clapping. Yesterday, I finished a 17-year ministry at Southern Hills Baptist Church in Sioux City, Iowa. Our attendance was the highest it’s been in a long time. I did what I’ve done week after week, Sunday after Sunday, since August 28, 2005: preach a text of Scripture. After church, we had a potluck dinner and enjoyed warm fellowship. Members expressed love for my wife and me, sorrow that we were leaving, and prayers for our future. We received a basket of cards with some generous gifts and messages that made my wife cry. It was a wonderful way to wrap things up. What I didn’t receive was a standing ovation. Yesterday, Matt Chandler stood before his congregation to admit to inappropriate text interactions with a woman other than his wife and to announce he was taking a leave of absence. He claimed the messages were not sexual or romantic, but he withheld any further details. With that in mind, I’m not ad...

His theories of conversion and competition shaped widely held views of church growth and decline. Rodney Stark, the influential and controversial sociologist who argued for rational choice in religion, died last month at age 88. Stark made the case that religious conversion, commitment, and cultural vitality should be understood in terms of costs and benefits. He rejected the common assumption that people practice a religion because they agree with the theology, arguing creedal affirmations are secondary to social connections. And he rejected academic accounts of belief as “false consciousness” or fundamentally irrational. In more than 30 books published across seven decades—including The Churching of America 1776-1990 , with Roger Finke; The Future of Religion, with William Sims Bainbridge; and The Rise of Christianity , by himself—Stark countered that religious life wasn’t any different from other human activity. It could only be understood in terms of social connections and pe...

But it doesn’t mean what you think it means. A recent LifeWay Research study asked American Protestant pastors if women in their congregations were allowed to take on six specific leadership roles. Views on preaching were predictably split, but roughly “9 in 10 pastors say women could be ministers to children (94%), committee leaders (92%), ministers to teenagers (89%), or coed adult Bible study teachers (85%) in their churches,” according to Aaron Earls. Fewer (64%) said women could be deacons. The question of where a woman can serve in church “has been debated for centuries with biblical scholars in different denominations coming to different conclusions about what Scripture means,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. The first part of the Bible, in particular, plays a key part. Generations of Christians have looked to the creation stories in Genesis 1 through 3 as the paradigm for gender roles. “As Genesis 1–3 go, so goes the whole Biblical debate,”...

Slavic broadcasters take different approaches as legal and societal efforts to combat propaganda impact worship and evangelism. A new language law in Ukraine has complicated ministry to Russian-speaking citizens. Comparing restrictions to the Soviet era, one Christian broadcaster is relocating to Budapest, Hungary. “I don’t want our staff busted on the air for reading the Bible in Russian,” said Dan Johnson, president of Christian Radio for Russia, which operates New Life Radio (NLR) from Odessa on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. “We were expecting bombs to wreck our radio operations, but it turned out to be this law.” Last month, Russian missiles landed one mile from their studio. But earlier in July, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law a near-complete ban on Russian music on radio and television. Passed by parliament with a two-thirds majority, it exempts pre-independence classical artists like Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich as well as modern composers who have condemned the...

The appellate ruling sides with the Christian Medical and Dental Society and a Catholic hospital system that opposed the federal rule. The Biden administration has received another setback from a federal court—this time at the appellate level—in its effort to institute transgender rights even at the expense of freedom of conscience. The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans blocked last Friday a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule that required doctors and hospitals to perform gender-transition procedures, as well as abortions. The unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel upheld a 2021 permanent injunction by a federal court in Texas that barred enforcement of the regulation—an action also taken by a federal judge in North Dakota. The Biden administration’s support for transgender rights experienced another court defeat in July, when a federal judge in Tennessee blocked enforcement of guidelines from the Department of Education (DOE) and Equal Employment O...

Christians are divided over whether Biden’s promise to cancel student debt is ethical and just from a scriptural standpoint. Once President Joe Biden followed up on his promise to cancel $10,000 to $20,000 per borrower in student loan debt for eligible households, Christians responded by invoking a host of biblical references from Old Testament concepts like jubilee to the parables of Jesus in the New Testament. Over a two-day period last week, searches for debt-related topics surged to 20 times above average on BibleGateway. Four verses—for and against loan forgiveness—were the top-gaining passages on the site: Exodus 22:25 — “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest.” Deuteronomy 23:19 — “Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.” Psalm 37:21 — “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously.” Ecclesiastes...

More and more, it’s causing broken relationships, burnout, and anxiety. But that doesn’t mean we’re called to “let go and let God.” O ver the past few years, I started noticing a pattern in my life. If my housemates didn’t wash their dishes quickly enough, I would jump in and do them myself. If my fiancé didn’t communicate weekend plans enough in advance, I would barrage him with a half-dozen ideas and desires. If my boss started micromanaging me, I retreated into insecurity and passivity. If the circumstances in my life felt chaotic, I would focus extra attention on diet and exercise. The thread I noticed was one of control: of other people, my body, my work, or my future. Simultaneously, I was noticing that I experienced regular anxiety over work projects, relational conflicts, or fears about the future. I know I’m not alone. According to one widely cited statistic from the Centers for Disease Control, about one-third of adults experienced symptoms of anxiety during the heig...

Scientific data suggests that singing in community reshapes our physical selves and our corporate connections. One of the curious results of the COVID-19 lockdown back in 2020 was the opportunity to experiment with what I might call “soul only” worship. This approach prioritizes the invisible activities of the heart and mind over and against the visible activities of the body. According to this mindset, the “real” action of worship takes place in our immaterial spirits, not in these very earthy frames. But that’s not how God has designed us as human beings, nor how the Spirit of God has wired us to experience corporate worship. It’s the Spirit’s pleasure, I contend, to work not just in our heads and hearts but in and through our physical bodies to form us wholly into Christ’s body. And because the Spirit is the author of all things natural, not just supernatural, the sciences offer invaluable insights regarding the unique power of communal song to corporeally unite Christians in “S...

Elders at The Village Church said Instagram direct messages “revealed something unhealthy.” The Village Church pastor Matt Chandler announced on Sunday that he had an inappropriate online relationship with a woman and is taking an indefinite leave of absence from preaching and teaching. The relationship was not sexual or romantic, Chandler told his church, but the elders believed the frequent and familiar direct messages exchanged over Instagram were “unguarded and unwise” and “revealed something unhealthy in me.” Chandler said he agreed with their assessment and was grateful for the spiritual oversight. “We cannot be a church where anyone is above the Scriptures and above the high heavenly call into Christ Jesus,” Chandler said. “The Word of God holds me to a certain standard. And I fell short.” The Village Church is a large and influential Southern Baptist congregation in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Chandler, 48, has been pastor since 2002 and president of the church-planting n...

Looking ahead, Christians should focus less on enforcement than on changing cultural attitudes. What does the history of abortion tell us to expect, now that the Supreme Court has decided to give states the option of protecting unborn children? If half the states have protective laws, will the laws be enforced? Or will abortion statutes in many places have as much effect as Section 10-501 of Maryland law (which reads: “[a] A person may not commit adultery. [b] A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction shall be fined $10”)? I cannot find any indication that the state of Maryland is enforcing this law, or that its treasury is bulging from infidelity fines. Enforcement of many laws is disappearing in cities nationwide. For instance, voters in a May referendum in Austin, Texas, where I live, decided in an 86 percent landslide that city police will not arrest anyone found with fewer than four ounces of marijuana. Initial press coverage of the Dobbs...

There are lots of reasons to oppose capital punishment. Among them: When a prisoner is a fellow believer. Recent statistics show that the vast majority of 2022’s executions have or will take place in the Bible Belt, a fact in keeping with broader historical trends . White evangelicals are the strongest supporters of capital punishment in the United States, often drawing on biblical concepts like “an eye for an eye” to justify their position. In fact, those carrying out the executions sometimes understand themselves as doing God’s work and draw on Christian ideas accordingly. One former prison warden ( now the head of Mississippi’s’ corrections system) has regularly spoken of his ministry in offering to pray with prisoners while overseeing their lethal injections. But as the recent death penalty case of Ramiro Gonzales reminds us , some men and women on death row embrace faith in Christ during their time in prison. More broadly, there are thousands of Christian believers behi...

Staffing shortages and ongoing pandemic restrictions have kept volunteers out—and left the incarcerated craving the kind of spiritual support they had before. James Hyson hasn’t had access to ministries, classes, or mentoring groups since before the pandemic. That’s because the ministry staff who volunteer at the New Jersey prison where he is incarcerated haven’t been able to return. Though pandemic restrictions have loosened in most parts of American life, many state prisons and jails still limit outside volunteers. Ministries reported to CT that states have either not lifted their 2020 ban on volunteers, blocked volunteers whenever there is a COVID-19 outbreak, or cut the number of volunteers allowed in. Some states and individual facilities have restored full access to volunteers—ministry leaders reported Michigan, Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma were very open—but many across the country still cannot get through prison doors. Jumpstart, a ministry that works in 17 prisons in Sou...

As the Chinese festival ends, theologians explain why pneumatology matters more in Asia. On the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, the gates of hell fling open and ghosts roam the earth freely to visit their living relatives. Or so goes the origin story of the Hungry Ghost Festival, a day celebrated predominantly by the Chinese diaspora across East and Southeast Asia. It occurs during Ghost Month, which began on July 26 and concludes on August 26 this year. While the Hungry Ghost Festival is often said to have Buddhist roots, it is more accurately described as a Chinese folk religion arising from Taoism, says Justin Tan, coeditor of Spirit Wind: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in Global Theology—A Chinese Perspective . “In folk religions, good and evil is always around you,” he explained. “There [is a sense that] demons and angels are everywhere.” Many Asian Christian leaders would agree with that sentiment. But most believe celebrating the holiday seems to rais...

Why praising the Most High requires a physical body. Visit the Kodaiji Temple in Tokyo, Japan, and a six-feet-four, 132-pound robot priest named Mindar will give you a 25-minute sermon on Heart Sutra. Mindar’s ability to preach suggests a near future where artificial intelligence (AI) robots broadly replace human religious leaders. Christian churches may soon be considering how AI and smart machines can shape their liturgies. One case in point is a Christian AI musician created by Marquis Boone Enterprises. Based on software algorithms, this AI musician recognizes different patterns of songs and composes new ones through replication of the patterns. But does AI’s ability to replicate religious service elements mean that it is capable of worship or leading religious gatherings? Or does the relationship between our bodies and our consciousness give us a unique capability to praise the God who made us in psychosomatic unity? Never independent The hope for human-level AI and the con...

Faced with overall enrollment declines, schools are working to close higher education’s gender gap. Indiana Wesleyan University didn’t start a football team just to boost male enrollment, but it was a factor. The evangelical college is also starting an engineering program with the same issue in mind. “Not that engineering is only for male students, but we know historically schools that have engineering draw a higher percentage of male students,” said Chad Peters, the vice president of enrollment management and marketing at IWU. As evangelical colleges and universities across the country worry about overall enrollment declines , many schools are especially worried about “missing men.” Women in the US currently earn six out of every 10 degrees, and the gender gap has widened with the pandemic. Male undergraduate enrollment dropped by 5 percent in fall of 2020 , compared to a less than 1 percent decrease among women. And for men who do enroll in college, only about 40 percent earn ...

On national independence day, evangelical leaders reflect upon their answered and unanswered petitions to God. On the six-month anniversary of Russia’s invasion, today Ukraine marked a somber national holiday. Last year on August 24, large crowds flooded Kyiv to celebrate 30 years of independence from the Soviet Union. For year 31, Ukrainians were ordered indoors—yet remain defiant. “On Feb. 24, we were told: You have no chance,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky, encouraging the nation. “On Aug. 24, we say: Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!” President Joe Biden also bolstered Ukrainian spirits with an announcement of $3 billion in new military aid. The American leader noted the “bittersweet” holiday as he praised the nation’s resiliency and pride in the face of Russia’s “relentless attacks.” The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) called for prayer. “On this day of independence, we want to declare our dependence on God,” it stated on behalf of Ukraine, “the One who can bring true ...

English bishop and Oxford scholar cultivated unity, dialogue, and respect between the ancient faith and evangelicals. As Orthodox Christians commemorate Metropolitan Archbishop Kallistos Ware, who fell asleep in the Lord early Wednesday morning in England at age 88, evangelicals also have a loss to mourn and reason to pray, as Orthodox funerals do, “May his memory be eternal.” Born Timothy Ware in 1934 and raised in an Anglican family, he converted at age 24 and became one of the most influential Eastern Orthodox theologians in the English-speaking world in the 20th and early 21st centuries. His most famous books were The Orthodox Church, the standard introductory textbook for nearly 60 years; The Orthodox Way ; and The Philokalia , a classic text of Orthodox spirituality which he co-translated. He served as the Spaulding Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies at Oxford University for 35 years until his retirement in 2001, and many of his doctoral students acquired influential posts...

The gospel message redeemed my childhood pain. Over the last several years, the abuse crisis has brought the phrase trauma informed into our sanctuaries and homes. Pastors and layleaders are learning to understand trauma alongside the victims in their midst. Families and friends are doing it too. But what does awareness actually mean, and where does it start? In my experience, those who’ve experienced injury often struggle with realizing something simple: It’s not my fault. As a pastor, I’ve had many conversations with congregants who’ve been subjected to various kinds of serious abuse. Somehow in the process, they’ve internalized responsibility for the mistreatment. Women who’ve been exploited by powerful men feel they’re somehow to blame and are often too afraid to speak up due to fear and shame. Young adults reeling from years of sexual exploitation turn in on themselves, only deepening their wounds. That’s the agonizing truth about suffering: Not only do we carry the pain of ...

Christian efforts to protect the body often fail to protect women. As the abuse crisis roils American evangelicalism, church leaders are finally paying attention, if only because the accretion of cases is now impossible to ignore. Commentators on the Left have eyes on it, too. Among the various cries, some progressives are calling out Christian conservatives for policing the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) while simultaneously dismissing abused women in their own midst. “Youth leaders were fondling us and raping us and shaming us into silence,” said Julie Rodgers at the beginning of the #ChurchToo movement. “Meanwhile, we heard the gays were the greatest threat to the church and society.” “If the SBC hated abusers as much as they do gay people … we literally wouldn’t be having this conversation today,” tweeted Matthew Manchester in response to the recent Southern Baptist Convention report revealing widespread abuse and coverup. Others have voiced simila...

Arise Church leadership said it was going to “listen and learn,” but its senior pastors tried to stop publication of a report on allegations of intern abuse. New Zealand’s largest megachurch is being investigated by the country’s Department of Internal Affairs following a damning report that the church commissioned but then refused to release.According to the 49-page report, there were “ egregious and systemic ” failures in the leadership of Arise Church. The independent review, conducted by Pathfinding, a Christian critical response management company, called for board resignations and new leadership to address widespread problems, including the ill-treatment of volunteers and interns enrolled in the Arise Ministry School. Interns were reportedly asked to work excessively long hours and do cleaning, driving, babysitting, and gardening for pastors. There were also allegations of sexual harassment, bullying, and manipulation. Pathfinding surveyed 545 current and former members of Ari...

  வேதாகம துணுக்குகள்   1. கர்த்தராகிய ஆண்டவர் என்னை நோக்கி: இதோ, எனக்கும் உனக்கும் உன் சந்ததிக்கும் இடையிலே நான் என் உடன்படிக்கையைச் செய்கிறேன்.  நான் உனக்கும், உனக்குப் பின் வரும் உன் சந்ததிக்கும், நீ அந்நியனாக இருக்கிற தேசத்தை, கானான் தேசம் முழுவதையும் நித்திய உடைமையாகக் கொடுக்கிறேன்.  அவர்கள் (இஸ்ரவேல் புத்திரர்) அதை என்றென்றும் சுதந்தரித்துக்கொள்வார்கள் என்று நான் அவர்களுக்கு சத்தியம் செய்தேன்.  2. என் கட்டளைகளையெல்லாம் கடைப்பிடிக்க அவர்கள் எனக்குக் கீழ்ப்படியாவிட்டால், அவர்களுடைய பாவங்களுக்காக நான் அவர்களை ஏழு மடங்கு அதிகமாகத் தண்டிப்பேன்.  3. அவர்களுடைய பலிபீடங்களை இடித்து, அவர்களுடைய தூண்களைத் தகர்த்து, அவர்களுடைய தோப்புகளை நெருப்பினால் சுட்டெரிப்பாயாக;  நீங்கள் அவற்றில் மகிழ்ச்சியடையவும் வேண்டாம், அவர்களுக்கு முன்பாக வணங்கவும் வேண்டாம்.  4. தோட்டத்தின் இந்த மரங்களுக்குள்ளே நீங்கள் பிரவேசிக்கும்படிக்கு உங்களுக்கு ஒரு கூடாரம் இருக்கும்: நான் என் நிழலை உங்கள்மேல் வைப்பேன், நீங்கள் என் சத்துருக்களின் நடுவில் குடியிருப்பீர்கள்.  5. ஆம...

But the liberty at stake is moral and spiritual, not just intellectual. In the days since a brutal attack on Salman Rushdie, the world has seen an outpouring of solidarity. The phrase “ We are all Salman Rushdie ” appeared on Twitter profiles and in countless articles, acknowledging that threats to one person’s freedom of expression are a threat to all. In the New Yorker , Adam Gopnik anticipated efforts “to somehow equalize or level the acts of Rushdie and his tormentors and would-be executioners.” That approach is despicable, he wrote , “because the right to be insulting about other people’s religions…is a fundamental right, part of the inheritance of the human spirit. Without that right of open discourse, intellectual life devolves into mere cruelty and power seeking.” In The Atlantic, Graeme Wood eviscerated “those who muddle the distinction between offense and violence, and between a disagreement over ideas and a disagreement over whether your head should remain attached to ...

In a recent survey, Baptists are the least likely to endorse women in deacon or senior pastor roles. Most Protestant pastors say a woman could be the senior pastor at their church, but that varies dramatically among denominational groups. A Lifeway Research study asked US Protestant pastors about six potential leadership roles and if women are permitted to hold them in their congregations. While a slight majority say the position of senior pastor is open to women, a broader consensus exists for other positions. Close to 9 in 10 pastors say women could be ministers to children (94%), committee leaders (92%), ministers to teenagers (89%), or coed adult Bible study teachers (85%) in their churches. Fewer say a woman could be a deacon (64%) or senior pastor (55%), while 1 percent say none of these roles are open to women. Fewer than 1 percent say they are not sure. “Someone without context may think differences of opinion on where women can serve in church are simply fickle or archaic...

With 9 million girls “missing” due to sex-selective abortions over the past two decades, Pew report examines changes in “son preference” or “daughter aversion” among India’s biggest faiths. Nine million girls have gone “missing” in India over the past two decades due to sex-selective abortions, according to a new report on sex ratios and gendercide in the world’s second-most populous nation. The problem rests mainly within the Hindu and Sikh communities, according to government-backed data, while the subcontinent’s Christians have maintained a “natural balance” of sons and daughters since 2001, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released today . Pew estimates that Christians account for 53,000 of the “missing” girls in India, whereas Hindus account for 7.8 million, Muslims account for 590,000, Sikhs account for 440,000, and other religious groups such as Buddhists and Jains account for 110,000. (The tally for Hindus and Sikhs was disproportionately high compared to their s...

How US homebuyer woes can reorient us toward the eternal. I refresh my email compulsively, stealing moments between toddler snacks and sunscreen reapplications, cracking open a LaCroix as I scroll through my inbox. When my real estate agent’s name pops up, my heart skips a beat. Each email from her, or rather from the automated home listing search she set up for us under her name, is bursting with possibility: Would it be brick? Stone? Would there be a butler’s pantry, or a mudroom for catching our family’s wellies and coats and dog leashes and backpacks? The longer I wait, it seems, the more elaborate my imagined forever home becomes. A big tree fit for a tire swing! A kitchen garden! A soaking tub! But time and time again, the home in my inbox underwhelms. It is overpriced or ugly or in need of more repairs than financially sensible—or more often than not, all three. When something within our (reluctantly stretching) budget finally catches our eye, we call our agent immediately—...

Title IX coordinators look for ways to combat silence and shame. Only two Anderson University students have filed reports on sexual violence or harassment so far this year, according to Title IX coordinator Dianne King. That number might seem encouraging, but King is actually worried about it. Just because someone doesn’t report something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Anderson is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention. The school, like all colleges and universities that receive federal funding, is required to enforce Title IX, a federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination. That includes tracking sexual violence and attempting to prevent it. That’s a challenge for every college and university. And some Christian schools may inadvertently discourage reporting, with policies that prohibit all alcohol, drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage. That can leave coordinators like King second-guessing their own data....

Education is important. But the answer lies in family discipleship, not culture wars. Back to school this election year will mean back to school-board battles. Back to viral clips of distraught parents reaming out officials; back to politicized debates about parental rights; back to enjoinders, both earnest and conniving , for evangelicals and political conservatives to take over their school districts because America’s future depends on it. This is but the latest iteration of a longstanding strategy , the result of primary education’s re-emergence as a source of partisan realignment in the last two years, significantly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The basic argument is familiar culture-war fodder. When I was an evangelical kid in the 1990s, worries around the moral devolution of American public schools felt ubiquitous. Then controversies emerged over evolution, sex ed, and school prayer. America was in trouble because we’d “taken God out of schools.” Now the focus is polic...

He fought the government over how it treated its most vulnerable. They hit back. On January 1, 1818, the British-led army of 800 Dalit soldiers defeated a 2,000-person battalion composed almost entirely of high-caste Brahmin elite. The battle was one of the many confrontations that ultimately led to the British overthrow of the ruling Peshwa. Today, thousands of Dalits gather annually in the village of Bhima Koregaon, in the modern-day West Indian state of Maharashtra, to commemorate the anniversary of the group’s victory there. In the months leading up to the 2018 battle bicentennial, high-caste Maratha and right-wing Hindu groups began to voice displeasure with the planned celebration, arguing it was an anti-national act to celebrate the victory of the British. On the first day of the year, hundreds of thousands of celebrators and protesters arrived. Clashes broke out between Maratha and the lower-caste Mahar, killing one person and injuring five. Initially police investigated Hi...

The author and new director of Theos offers a look at the race and faith conversation from the other side of the pond. They didn’t teach her about James Cone at Cambridge. Chine McDonald says she came late to the Black theologian but wishes she had been reading him at university. Lately, more Black American authors have stacked up on her book shelf: Esau McCaulley, Austin Channing Brown, Dante Stewart. McDonald—the new director of the London-based evangelical think tank Theos—is one of the most prominent Black evangelical voices in Britain, but she has one eye gazing across the pond as she considers the dynamics of race and faith in her home country. “I think one of the differences is that in the UK we have fooled ourselves to thinking we’re not like [America],” she told CT. “The past few years are showing us that actually we haven’t moved as forward as we would have liked to in terms of race and racial justice in our country.” For one, “there’s almost this unwritten understandin...

His DC Talk bandmates are back as collaborators. Since Truett McKeehan, an aspiring rapper, died at age 21 in 2019 after an accidental drug overdose, his father, the Grammy-winning Christian artist TobyMac (also known as Toby McKeehan), has not produced much original music, releasing a few “lost” demos and a concert recording that included “21 Years,” a song mourning the loss of Truett. Now, a new album reflecting the trajectory the songwriter has traveled in the almost three years since the death of his oldest son was released on Friday, a collaboration with Truett’s sister, Marlee, Sheryl Crow, and TobyMac’s former bandmates from DC Talk—the Christian rap trio formed at Liberty University that launched TobyMac’s career. Life After Death is filled with songs of lament and sadness, as well as a mourning father’s declaration about the goodness of God. “God has been kind enough to show me that there is life after death,” TobyMac told an intimate gathering of dozens of fans, staff,...

Deng Ziqi’s “Gloria” music video embeds gospel messages and shares a journey from wasteland to gospel hope. In July 2022, the singer G.E.M., Chinese name 邓紫棋 (Deng Ziqi), released her 14-track album Revelation . On August 9, the music video of the album’s first song, “Gloria,” was released online. G.E.M. also recorded and released a short video sharing her spiritual journey in the creation of the song. Deng, nicknamed “China’s Taylor Swift,” is one of China’s most popular and successful female singers. She is a Christian who has openly talked about her faith on social media. She said in the recorded message that “Gloria” was actually her real English name, given to her by her father when she was a child. She liked this name very much since childhood “because it feels like being full of glory” and she named the song after her real name to “present the real me to everyone without framing.” The background of most scenes in the “Gloria” music video is a gray, desolate wasteland. The...

Roger Olson sympathizes with liberal leavers, but he draws the line at liberal theology. I n the preface of Roger Olson’s new book, Against Liberal Theology , we meet a particular type of exvangelical all too familiar in this age of disillusionment and deconstruction. As Olson describes this tribe, “They grew up in fundamentalist churches, found them stifling, anti-intellectual, legalistic, whatever, and rushed past the middle ground to the opposite end of the Christian spectrum, to liberal Christianity.” These people haunt him. Olson fully sympathizes with their desire to escape the militant dogmatism of churches on the far-right fringe. But he is baffled by the flying leap they have taken from one extreme position to its opposite. It is a leap that carries them over the broad fields of Christianity itself, skimming lightly past every actual position of any churches along the entire scale of theological possibilities. Why not touch down somewhere before the antipode? Olson is vexe...