Marginal Christianity

  Daniel Kirk has moved to the Progressive Chanel at Patheos. And that’s great for him. Really, I’m happy. It seems like it will be a good fit for him. That said, without wanting to pick on him, I had a quibble about his recent post on why he’s a “ Progressive Evangelical .” You can read the whole thing, but here’s the conclusion that sums it up: In the end, I’m an evangelical because the Bible will always haunt me as the authoritative articulation of the word of God we hold in our hands. But I’m a progressive because Jesus, not the Bible, is the ultimate authority to whom I must bow as a Christian—and I do not believe that the final, liberating word has yet been spoken, that the final, liberating action of God has yet been taken. So a commitment to the Jesus I meet on the pages of the Bible means that I must continue to enact the progressive ministry of Jesus and those who followed him. Okay. At first this sounds like an old-school, Red-Letter Jesus approach to thing...

December 18, 2014 By Matthew Paul Turner 3 Comments As you may have heard, a recent poll found that American Christians are more likely to support torture than non-religious Americans . The poll, conducted by Washington Post/ABC found that 69 percent of white evangelical Americans “believe the CIA treatment was justified.” Are we surprised. I’m not. I wish I was surprised. But it’s par for the evangelical course in this country. But my gosh, enough is enough. Right? Hasn’t ENOUGH been ENOUGH for many many years? I mean, like so many of you, I’ve long been tired of watching Jesus get dragged through America’s evangelical mud. And for some reason, 2014 has felt more exhausting than most. I mean, how far are America’s evangelicals willing to take Jesus in order to maintain (or keep safe) their cozy straight white American middle-to-upper-class lives? American evangelicals hate when other groups poke fun or mock Jesus in the public square, all the while crucifying Jesus the...

  April 1, 2013 By Peter Enns 204 Comments In a recent Ethics and Public Policy Center forum , Tim Keller spoke to a group of journalists and was asked about his views on gay marriage and homosexuality. Keller’s response included the following prediction of how evangelicals will make peace with this issue:  ”Large numbers of evangelical Christians, even younger ones…will continue to hold the view that same-sex marriage runs counter to their faith, even as they increasingly decide they either support or do not oppose making it the law of the land.”   As he often does, Keller has his finger on the pulse of  evangelical culture. My own experience is admittedly more limited than Keller’s, but my ear to the ground picks up the same sort of distant rumbling. In the world of public prominent evangelicals voices, there aren’t many like Keller who seem genuinely interested in finding a third way between a polemical theological tradition and...