Summary: A commentary and exposition of the book of Lamentations that advocates for the restoration of the practice of lament as part of the worship of American churches, particularly majority culture evangelical churches.Read more…
Book Response: To Change the World, by James Davison Hunter
To Change the World has been hailed as “a seminal book on cultural formation and change, particularly insightful on how Christians (primarily evangelical) have understood and misunderstood culture change over the past 40 years or so” (Micheal Hickerson. Changing the World with James Davison Hunter. Emerging Scholars Network Blog, 8/2/2010). Read more…
Book Response: Christ and Culture Revisited, by D. A. Carson
D.A. Carson summarizes and critiques H. Richard Niebuhr’s typology in an excellent manner. By doing such he sets up the importance of biblical theology as the lens for the Evangelical culture engagement.Read more…
Book Review: The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism
Thank-you to Bob Trube for sharing reviews from Bob on Books with the Emerging Scholars Network Blog! His post on The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Billy Graham and John Stott by Brian Stanley (InterVarsity Press, 2013) comesRead more…
Why You Must Be Dying to be a Christian Scholar (Wrap Up)
Following his move to The Big Apple to serve with InterVasity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministry at NYU this fall, David is back to wrap up his series on Why You Must Be Dying to be a Christian Scholar. For earlier postsRead more…
Why You Must Be Dying to be a Christian Scholar (2/2)
Last week I began to introduce myself and my understanding of the Christian scholar’s vocation by briefly outlining the controversy which marked my time as a student at Westminster Theological Seminary. (You can read last week’s post here.) This weekRead more…
Why You Must Be Dying to be a Christian Scholar: David Williams Intro (1/2)
What am I, a nice campus minister, doing on a blog like this? I am neither a scholar nor the son of a scholar. I occupy no endowed chairs. I will be presented with no festschriften upon my retirement. Why,Read more…
Is Bible Belt Christianity Relevant to Christians in Academia?
Last week, as I began my review of Omri Elisha’s Moral Ambition, I quoted a line that resonated strongly with me: Here in the Bible Belt, going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald’sRead more…
Omri Elisha: The Moral Ambition of Evangelical Christians
Last year, I began a series reviewing academic perspectives on evangelical Christians, beginning with James Bielo’s Words Upon the Word and T.M. Luhrmann’s When God Talks Back. I’m picking up this series again with Moral Ambition: Mobilization and Social OutreachRead more…
Talking with Non-Evangelicals (When God Talks Back)
A couple of weeks ago, I finished reading T.M. Luhrmann’s When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God. As I mentioned then, please read Mark Noll’s review, which is much better than what I could have written.Read more…
Nicholas Wolterstorff: Advice to Those Who Would Be Christian Scholars
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology Emeritus at Yale University, has been one of the leading voices in Christian philosophy for decades. In October 2009, he spoke at the Veritas Forum at the University of Tennessee, presenting aRead more…
Bielo: Bible Study Shapes Identity and Action
In this final post on James Bielo’s Words Upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Bible Study, I’m writing about both his final chapter — “Negotiating Self and Others” — and his conclusion. Both are relatively short, and in someRead more…
Bielo: Bible Study as “Backstage” for Witnessing
This week, the chapter I’m covering from James S. Bielo’s Words Upon the Word: An Ethonography of Evangelical Bible Study is all about “witnessing.” More on what that means in a moment. First, however, I’d like to mention an unexpectedRead more…
Bielo: Intimacy in Evangelical Bible Studies
Why do evangelical Christians join – and remain in – Bible studies? That’s how I would characterize the basic themes of this and next weeks’ chapters of James S. Bielo’s Words Upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group BibleRead more…
Bielo: How Do Evangelicals Read the Bible?
This summer, I’m reading — and blogging about — several books that reflect academic understandings of American evangelicals. The first of these is James S. Bielo’s Words Upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study. Previously, I wroteRead more…
Bielo: Bible study as a social institution
The first selection in my summer research project: James S. Bielo’s Words Upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study. This summer, inspired by T.M. Luhrmann’s When God Talks Back, I am reviewing several books that provide anRead more…
Can Intellectuals Also Be Activists? (John Stott Remembered)
Last week, John Stott went to be with the Lord. As an author, theologian, and working pastor, few people have had as large an influence on evangelical Christianity around the world over the past 100 years.Read more…
Week in Review: Sleeping Edition
What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for theRead more…
Week in Review: Future of Evangelicals Edition
What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for theRead more…
Week in Review: No Christianity Please Edition
What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for theRead more…
Are Christian Professors Politically Conservative?
On Friday, our week in review linked to Patricia Cohen’s article about political liberalism in the academy, “Professor is a Label That Leans to the Left.” The article was based on the work of sociologists Neil Gross (U. British Colombia)Read more…
Week in Review: Big Questions Edition
Here’s the top five articles, books, websites, etc., that we’ve been reading or thinking about the past week. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. In addition, if you have items you’d like us to consider for the topRead more…
Evangelicalism’s First Rate Scholars
The glowing Chronicle of Higher Education review of Mark Noll’s God and Race in American Politics: A Short History, see Martin E. Marty’s God-Talk: Good, Bad, and Ugly, A new book on religion and race in politics should give us pause,Read more…