After a tumultuous and fascinating two months in American politics, here are some things I see as this election year moves into its final stretch. After the June presidential debate, Joe Biden’s candidacy was doomed. He was right to drop out. There was no unseeing the feebleness we all saw. Afterward, the polls were showing Biden […]
Regarding Election 2024: Eight Things I See
The 248th birthday of our country will be celebrated this year under dark shadows. Personally, I will not be doing much celebrating. Let’s review our situation, shall we? Former President Donald Trump already was leading in the presidential election polls before the June 27 debate between him and President Joe Biden. In that debate, this is
My newest book, The Moral Teachings of Jesus: Radical Instruction in the Will of God, will be out from Wipf and Stock Publishers (Cascade Books) on September 10. Pre-orders are now available. What I do in this book is dig into forty moral teachings of Jesus as presented in the Gospels. Each of these teachings is addressed
My New Book: The Moral Teachings of Jesus
Donald Trump appears to be leading in most meaningful election polling. According to the authoritative Real Clear Politics, Trump leads slightly in overall polling and in every single swing state. Betting averages have him up on Biden 50% to 38%. We all must prepare ourselves for the possibility that Donald Trump will become president again. For anyone
Trump Is Leading: What Does This Say about Us?
History may well record that April 16-17, 2024, marked a breakthrough moment in the emergence of an organized post-evangelical Christian movement in the United States. It certainly felt like a breakthrough to this participant-observer, as I had the privilege of attending the third and by far the largest national gathering of the Post-Evangelical Collective last week. Stuffing 300
The Post-Evangelicals Take Their Next Step Forward
I begin by saying the obvious: We enter an election year in a time of great political and cultural division in our country. That could have been said every four years since 1968. But today we also can add that we enter an election year with very high levels of social mistrust, loss of confidence in
Thinking Biblically about Government in an Election Year
We’ve just celebrated Martin Luther King weekend. The great Baptist preacher, scholar and activist would have been 95 years old. We rightly honor him. The Civil Rights Movement led by King was not that long ago. We still live with the reverberations of that era. Indeed, I would suggest our own miserably divided politics still reflect
Racism’s Absurdity in Light of the Gospel
As Jeanie and I danced the night away in Atlanta on New Year’s Eve — yes, we actually did that, although I admit I ended up with a twisted knee, a sadly predictable outcome for a man of my rapidly advancing years — I was aware that the spirit of revelry in the room was not
We Face a Cultural Crisis, Not Just a Political One
In the Christian calendar, the new year begins with the first Sunday of Advent. That is the Sunday just past. Happy Christian New Year, everyone! If one is thinking in terms of the Christian calendar, then, the new year began on Dec. 3, 2023, and will end on Nov. 30, 2024. That means before the next
Devouring Beasts: Advent and the 2024 election
I spent the last weekend of October exploring the Old Town of Vilnius, Lithuania. I was in that grand 700-year-old city for speaking appearances and to visit friends. My dear wife, Jeanie, came with me. Tuesday, Oct. 31, was free, and Jeanie and I decided on different itineraries. She went exploring in Lithuania’s many historic Catholic
City of the Living, City of the Dead: From Vilnius to Israel/Palestine