Becuase folks are just finding the HB I’m re-posting the link to an earlier meditation about how Reformed folk should think about their relations to the dominant form of Christianity in America, “Three Ways of Relating to American Religion.”
American Religion
What Americans Really Believe
Kim explains.
Evangelicals and Gnostics Together?
Gnosticism is perhaps the most ancient heresy of all. It posits a radical spirit-matter dualism, matter/creation as the result of a demi-urge, a hierarchy of being and deities, it denies the OT, the God of the OT, and the humanity of Jesus. . . . Continue reading →
Idols of the Heartland? The Megachurch Background of American Idol
The LA Times has a story chronicling an interesting connection between some evangelical megachurches and contestants on American Idol (HT: Bill J.).
Why the “Nones” Are Growing
USA Today has a story on recent Pew Forum survey that shows that 48% of Americans are “Protestant,” 22% Roman, and 20% are slotted under “none,” and 6% under “other” (the greater share of which one guesses is Islam, which is gaining . . . Continue reading →
American Evangelicalism: From David Joris to David Koresh
NPR has a story today reminding us that the Branch Davidian episode was twenty years ago (HT: Ann Althouse). The story is worth hearing. Ann Althouse raises the question whether NPR is turning our attention to the Branch Davidians in order to . . . Continue reading →
Understanding Evangelicalism: A Select Bibliography
Organized Chronologically Updated 2016 Henry, Carl F. H. The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947. Packer, J. I. Fundamentalism and The Word of God. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1958. Nash, Ronald H. The New Evangelicalism. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1963. Van Til, Cornelius. Karl Barth . . . Continue reading →
On Distinguishing Christianity From The American Religion Of Optimism
Peale distilled the optimism and self-sufficiency of the American character into a simple creed. The first article of his faith was a warm patriotism. He called the U.S. “the greatest country in the world” and addressed his writing to “everyday people of . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 172: With D. G. Hart On American Catholic: The Politics Of Faith During The Cold War (Updated)
What can confessional Presbyterian and Reformed folk learn from the history of Roman Catholicism in America? Quite a lot as it turns out. We are continuing our brief hiatus from the series, As It Was In The Days of Noah to talk with . . . Continue reading →
These Things Did Not Happen Only In The Old Testament
"The taking of a leaf is the cutting of the root of clinging. When this root is finally cut, you are safe as the original body of all life appears to deluded minds." –@KosenGregSnyder Read more about the Ordination of the Cherry . . . Continue reading →
In Defense Of The Bible Belt
One can imagine fewer complaints from the South if her critics held everyone over the fiery pit like one of Edwards’s unfortunate spiders, and did so with equal contempt. But there seems to be a bit of socio-theological dissonance at play. On . . . Continue reading →
What’s Going on Right Now: Sex, Race, Politics, & Power with W Robert Godfrey (7)
This is the seventh session of Bob Godfrey’s Adult Sunday School series at the Escondido URC. In this session he explores the challenges faced by Christendom due to the Enlightenment and how it took shape in America. He argues that Christianity as . . . Continue reading →
W. Robert Godrey: “What’s Going on Right Now: Sex, Race, Politics, & Power” (8)
This is the eighth session of Bob Godfrey’s Adult Sunday School series at the Escondido URC. In this session he discusses the dramatic changes in American culture in the last few years wherein America has abandoned Christendom, a way of looking at . . . Continue reading →
Review: Ben Franklin: Cultural Protestant by D. G. Hart
From the author of The Lost Soul of American Protestantism and From Billy Graham to Sarah Palin: Evangelicals and the Betrayal American Conservatism, comes Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant. Part of Oxford’s “Spiritual Lives” series, the host of the Paleo Protestant Pudcast (podcast) . . . Continue reading →