Assessing the Arts
Essay by Alexandra Harper with W. Jackson Watts Walking through an art gallery can be an intimidating experience. It is not due to a distaste for art that this feeling necessarily arises, but because we simply don’t understand it. For one, art education sits so low on our society’s totem pole of educational priorities. When school budgets are cut, art and music are often the first areas eliminated. Yet for Christians today the issue...
Accounting for Accountability
The Baptist church has quite a problem: We are losing churched young adults at an alarming rate to the growing ranks of the un-churched. [In comparison] to older adults, twentysomethings have significantly lower levels of church attendance, time spent alone studying and reading the Bible, volunteering to help churches, donations to churches, Sunday school and small group involvement, and use of Christian media (including television,...
All Together Now: A Theology and Strategy for Race Relations
Racism is a dirty word. Billy Graham referred to it as a “deadly poison” [1], Jefferson Edwards, Jr. a “cancer” [2]. Despite a difficult history, efforts have been made in recent decades to correct yesterday’s wrongs. Some of these have been cultural, others political, and still others social. These notwithstanding, Christians should know what the Scriptures state about race relations. Though the whole testimony of Scripture speaks to...
First Things for Christian Apologists
For centuries Christians have believed in the need to give a reason for the hope within. Apologetics (the defense and articulation of Christian truth) has produced a great heritage of theological and philosophical resources. In the wake of the legacies of C.S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer, many have taken up this mantel with remarkable zeal. Apologetics texts burgeoned in the late twentieth century, along with institutes, courses, and...
The Need for Theology in the Fight for Hope
In a world filled with grief and tragedy, the gospel promises hope for the hurting. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:3 ESV) [1]. Yet many faithful Christians wrestle daily with the fact that this hope does not coincide with their reality. Regularly, faithful believers find themselves battling emotions of despair, anguish, and suffering. It seems as if the gospel they were called...
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