As another installment in our series on faith and politics, we discuss abortion and single issue voting in the United States. Joining Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Brandon Hurlbert, Tim McNutt, and Dr. Chris Porter for this discussion is our special guest, Jennie Riley, who recently submitted her PhD thesis in Theology at Durham University (England), focusing on the relationship between Evangelical Christianity and Medial Practice. As she explains in the episode, for her doctoral research...
Continuing further our recent conversations on politics and political engagement from a Christian perspective (cf. the episodes entitled, “Faith and Politics with Rev. Baroness Maeve Sherlock” and “War & Political Theology with Michael Spalione”), Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Chris Porter discuss social identity theory and how our social identity shapes our present lack of bi-partisanship in the States and the degrading nature of our political discourse with those in the “out group.” Chris...
In this episode Amber Bowen and John Anthony Dunne are joined by Dr. Aaron Griffith (Th.D., M.Div., Duke Divinity), who is currently Assistant Professor of History at Sattler College (Boston, MA), to discuss his upcoming book God’s Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020). Over the course of our conversation we discuss the history of the evangelical posture towards criminal punishment, the way that the criminal...
What is Fundamentalism? Christian fundamentalists (think R.A. Torrey, A.C. Dixon, or recently, John Piper, Norman Geisler, Paul Washer, John MacArthur, Wayne Grudem, etc.) are part of the movement in Evangelicalism that originated in 1910s America. This phrase has been used to connote religious bigotry, abuse, and close-mindedness, but fundamentalists are merely Evangelicals with a complex (we will see whether this complex is merited further on). This was the branch of American Christianity that found its roots...
The Question With the ex-vangelical movement on the rise and evangelical church attendance in decline, the question is often raised: Is evangelical theology, particularly the conservative evangelical theology that drives writers like Wayne Grudem to write articles like “Why voting for Donald Trump is a morally good choice,” and “Why Building a Border Wall is a Morally Good action,” toxic? This brand of theology is predominately driven by older white Protestants, as only 11 percent of the US population is...
Where to begin… Charlottesville The world knows of the American embarrassment that is the recent happenings in Charlottesville, Virginia. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists incited violence surrounding the profanely displayed statue of Confederate General and beater of freed slaves, Robert E. Lee. Gen. Lee’s brutality should be condemned along with the then-institution of chattel slavery. However, certain southerners (and unfortunately, many southern Christians) have insisted on the statue remaining and continue to venerate Gen. Lee as a...
I am a product of my culture – born and raised in a predominantly white suburban town, went to a predominantly white evangelical church, attended a predominantly white evangelical Christian college, and served at a predominantly white suburban church for 5 years. I could be a poster boy for white evangelicalism, if they had posters and needed boys to put on them. For most of my life, I’ve been thankful for the ways evangelical culture has shaped,...
Hays, Christopher M. and Christopher B. Ansberry, eds. Evangelical Faith and the Challenge of Historical Criticism. London: SPCK, 2013. 241 pgs. Paperback. £17.99 ISBN: 9780281067329. Evangelical Faith and the Challenge of Historical Criticism is a collection of essays written in response to the challenges that historical criticism brings to traditional evangelical approaches to the Bible. Rather than being an apologetic defense of conservative methods, this book is unique in helping the reader to think through the implications for faith...
This is a post I wrote on my personal blog a few years ago. I think it still holds true but would like to hear your thoughts I think evangelicalism has failed on two major fronts. One is the preaching and teaching of the Sanctification process through the power of the Holy Spirit. So much of evangelicalism is about prompting people to make a decision for Christ and then counting them as a statistic. Baptisms...
I’ve written a number of pieces about Christian hip-hop over at Evangelical Outpost, as well as entrenching myself in the genre as a reviewer (both written and in podcast form) for The Christian Manifesto. When I was asked to write a few guest posts here at The Two Cities, I really wasn’t sure what I should focus on. I considered writing about The Dark Knight Rises, but that’s been pretty well covered here (I didn’t...
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