Blog Archives

Pope Francis and the Baptists

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Steve Harmon — 1 Comment ↓

I don’t think a day has passed since March 13 without a student, colleague, fellow church member, family member, or friend asking what my perspective is on the election of Pope Francis, especially since they know that I was a…

Tagged with: Baptist World Alliance, ecumenical dialogue, Jesuits, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Roman Catholic Church, Walter Cardinal Kasper
Posted in Baptist History, Ecumenical Leaders, Theology

Keep the flame of liberty burning bright

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Roger Lovette — No Comments ↓

The Founding Fathers gave us a bigger challenge than they realized. To work for the common good of all keeps the torch of freedom burning brightly. Nobody has expressed the essence of America more than the artist Norman Rockwell. His…

Tagged with: Founding Fathers, freedom, July 4, Norman Rockwell, Statue of Liberty
Posted in Baptist History, Public Policy

What kind of Baptist are you?

Posted on March 18, 2013 by George Bullard — No Comments ↓

Do you know the story that periodically makes the rounds about the guy standing on the edge of a bridge ready to jump off to commit suicide? Along comes another person who engages him in conversation trying to get him…

Tagged with: Alliance, Baptist, Baptist World Alliance, Baptists, Bible, big tent, Canada, Christian Churches Together in the USA, Conservatives, Converge, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, evangelicals, fundamentalists, General Secretary, George Bullard, Holy Spirit, Liberals, mainline Protestants, moderates, National Association of Evangelicals, National Council of Churches, North American Baptist Fellowship, progressives, Sabbath, Seventh Day
Posted in Baptist History, Blog Posts, Organizational Voices

Real American exceptionalism

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Henry Green — No Comments ↓

How do we hold a healthy distance between our patriotic pride and our Christian witness? It is sometimes not easy. Baltimore held a weeklong Sailabration commemorating the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. Events involved tall ships, fireworks and great pride…

Tagged with: America, citizens, exceptionalism, Francis Scott Key, history, patriotic, separation of church and state, Star-Spangled Banner
Posted in Baptist History, Public Policy, Social Issues

CBF, a candle in search of darkness

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Alan Bean — No Comments ↓

Every good story needs an antagonist, a villain, and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship story doesn’t have one. I was a graduate student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville when the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship was founded in 1991. I…

Tagged with: Bill Leonard, CBF, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Daniel Vestal, SBC, Southern Baptist Convention, Wake Forest School of Divinity
Posted in Baptist History, Generational Differences, Organizational Voices

The new civil rights movement?

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Bert Montgomery — No Comments ↓

Despite what almost every single church sign says, openly LGBT people are NOT welcomed in most churches across the South and across America. Richard “Dick” Brogan was a personal friend and one of my heroes. Dick was a white Mississippi Baptist…

Tagged with: Broadman Commentary, bullying, civil rights, civil-rights movement, Dick Brogan, gay, gay rights, homosexual, LGBTQ, Martin Luther King Jr, Richard Brogan
Posted in Baptist History, Racial Reconciliation, Social Issues, Theology

Don’t forsake the old hymns

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Bob Burroughs — 1 Comment ↓

The decline of hymnody is harmful to the theology and music quality in many of today’s churches. I am becoming very burdened about what I am seeing, feeling and experiencing in worship these days in many churches. Things are different,…

Tagged with: Chuck Swindoll, hymn, hymnody, singing, Song for All Seasons, worship
Posted in Baptist History, Theology, Worship

Are Baptists still nonconformists?

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Steve Harmon — 4 Comments ↓

Not long after our move to work at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity my wife Kheresa read Monique Truong’s Bitter in the Mouth (Random House, 2010), a novel rooted in Truong’s childhood experiences as an “outsider” Vietnamese-American in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, where…

Tagged with: Act of Uniformity, Baptistification, Baptists, Christianity and culture, Church of England, Curtis Freeman, Episcopal Church, Martin Marty, Monique Truong, Nathan Hatch, Nonconformity
Posted in Baptist History, Blog Posts, Faithful Living, Theology

Theology is important

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Henry Green — No Comments ↓

Understanding theology is important. Even those who are dismissive of religion need to take some time to understand the important implications of theology in our world today. While religion is never the entire reason for some of the problems we…

Tagged with: Derek Flood, extremism, Healing the Gospel, Karen Armstrong, religion, The Battle for God, theology
Posted in Baptist History, Religion, Theology

Are Baptists Protestants?

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Tony Peck — 1 Comment ↓

Are Baptists Protestants? I pondered this question as I attended the recent assembly of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe in the beautiful city of Florence in Italy. The European Baptist Federation is not a full member of CPCE because of…

Tagged with: Anabaptists, Baptists, Community of Protestant Churches, European Baptist Federation, John Calvin, Lutheran World Federation, Protestants, Reformation
Posted in Baptist History, Religion, Theology