Book Briefs: November 18, 1977

A New Era Or A New Void

The Justification of Knowledge, by Robert L. Reymond (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1976, 168 pp., $4.50 pb), is reviewed by Robert H. Countess, First Batallion chaplain, Army Engineer Center, Ft. Belvoir, Va.

Who can take seriously a professor of systematic theology who in only 168 pages attempts to demonstrate that every evangelical heavyweight in apologetics ends up destroying, in principle, epistemology? But that is exactly what Covenant seminary’s Robert L. Reymond assays to do. How successful he is will be left to the reader to decide. I am impressed with this monograph. It could be judged a very significant apologetical work, not because it accomplishes so much positively but because its negative criticism of Van Til, Clark, Schaeffer, et al. is so devastating.

Reymond shows that Gordon H. Clark’s absolute idealism leaves us with the impossibility of knowledge, that C. Van Til’s extreme bifurcation between God’s knowledge and man’s knowledge leaves us with no anknüpfkungspunkt (point of contact) between what God knows and what man knows, and that Francis Schaeffer’s capitulation to a non-Christian, apostate epistemology leaves us with no possibility of ever achieving a dogmatic port for the “Good Ship of Zion.” Such serious charges, if proven, mean that after two thousand years of rigorous, intellectual activity by the best Christian minds, we seem to be at a terrible apologetical impasse.

Reymond has been personally acquainted with most of the apologetes he cites. His own lineage is, in descending order, from Van Til, Clark, and Schaeffer. He has taken great pains to reflect accurately their position.

The work is divided into five chapters. The first defines apologetics as a defense of the faith as specifically related to epistemology in the broadest sense of this word. Chapter two treats “The Faith We Defend” and surveys basic Christian doctrines before arriving at a Christian theory of being and knowing. The latter will remind the astute reader of Van Til’s Defense of the Faith: for example, “Every fact in the universe has meaning by virtue of its place in the unifying plan of God.” In the third chapter Reymond presents B. B. Warfield’s traditional approach to apologetics: On the basis of a great “mass of evidence” one can conclude that “the doctrinal teaching of the Bible writers is trustworthy.” But this method can only lead to “probability” apologetics and can never “prove” anything because it is inductive in approach. His colleague at old Princeton, Charles Hodge, in agreement with this method wrote, “reason must judge of the credibility of a revelation.” But Reymond sagaciously observes that the data for induction are always incomplete and, therefore the traditional method never yields more than probable evidence. (In this connection one must compare Francis Schaeffer’s reduplication of old Princeton.)

It is in chapter four that Reymond, as it were, places the fat in the fire. For him the only viable methodology is presuppositionalism and the crucial issue is epistemology. “In order for the human knowing subject to know, and to know that he knows, two prerequisites are obviously necessary: (1) the necessary learning apparatus …, and (2) a pou sto sufficiently comprehensive to serve as the ground for the universal conceptions which in turn are necessary to give all the particulars their meanings” (p. 75). Because of the effects of the Fall, man’s mind will not lead him to the truth regardless of how great the evidences for God. Only regeneration can begin to reverse these sinful noetic effects. Because God is the Creator, all men have everything in common metaphysically but they have in principle nothing in common epistemologically.

Having conceded indebtedness to both Clark and Van Til, he now reviews the 1945 conflict between these men over epistemology. Van Til insists that man can know nothing as God knows it. God knows univocally, man only analogically. “We dare not maintain that (God’s) knowledge and our knowledge coincide at any single point.” When Van Til asserts that he refuses to make any attempt at stating clearly any Christian doctrine because he desires to defend Christianity, Reymond exclaims: “This is an incredible statement!” Van Til’s analogous knowledge becomes no knowledge at all, and this is what Clark has charged. In addition Reymond draws a noteworthy parallel: “Exceedingly strange it is that as ardent a foe of Barthian irrationalism as is Van Til, he comes nevertheless to the same conclusion concerning the nature of truth for man as does Barth.”

But neither does Clark escape Reymond’s razor. He too is a presuppositionalist. For the Christian apologist, “only arguments whose conclusions follow necessarily from correct premises and therefore which give formally valid demonstrations” are to be embraced. Clark’s supreme major premise for all his deductions is that “the Bible is the Word of God.” (It is interesting for the reader to look up Psalm 65:4 from which Clark concludes that he personally had to choose this “first principle.”) Clark also denies that sensory experience has any validity as part of the knowing process, which denial has led critics to charge that he thus cuts himself off from his major premise. The Bible is a book that can be touched, read, or listened to. Clark’s dogmatic deductive methodology, if taken seriously, says Reymond, leads ultimately to skepticism.

In the final chapter Reymond briefly treats Aquinas, Buswell, Carnell, Schaeffer, Montgomery, Pinnock, and Josh McDowell all under “Empirical Apologetics.” He objects that this method is a kind of natural theology, which eventually leads one to special revelation. “It implies that men, apart from Christ, have by their own autonomous pou sto justified their claimed privilege to judge any and all other truth claims.” The twelve pages devoted to Schaeffer will interest those who are unaware of the L’Abri phenomenon.

Throughout the book Reymond writes clearly and argues persuasively. He exudes a gentlemanly demeanor toward those with whom he takes issue—which is everyone. Without arrogance he pleads for “both a methodology of communicating the faith and a methodology of defending that faith in a manner consistent with that faith.” His proposed solution to the Van Tillian dilemma is that the creature and the Creator do have knowledge that coincides as far as content is concerned, but man is never able to know a fact exhaustively. “The solution to all of Van Til’s difficulties is to affirm, as Scripture teaches, that both God and man share the same concept of truth and the same theory of language.”

There are indices of subjects and Scripture references but no glossary of terms. A summation chapter would have been helpful. Responses from these apologetes will surely be forthcoming. If Reymond has done his work well, we may see a new era in apologetics—or a new void.

What Has Psychology To Do With Theology?

Psychology and Christianity: The View Both Ways, by Malcolm Jeeves (InterVarsity, 1976, 177 pp., $3.95 pb), is reviewed by Kirk E. Farnsworth, associate professor of psychology, Trinity College, Deerfield, Illinois.

There have been many attempts “to restate traditional Christian beliefs in the latest psychological jargon in the belief that in some way this makes them more acceptable to contemporary man. At times this has resulted in ingenious attempts to demonstrate that this or that latest psychological model of man fits with the Christian model, with a further implication that if we had been clever enough we could have found it all in Scripture anyway.” With this accurate appraisal of present-day attempts to integrate psychology and theology, Jeeves launches into an excellent presentation of another view of integration, the Complementarity Model.

Drawing heavily on Donald MacKay (The Clockwork Image), Jeeves portrays psychology and theology as complementary, not competitive. Essentially, this means (1) they have a common reference, (2) each is in principle exhaustive within its own methodological limitations, and (3) they make different assertions. The main problem with this, as I see it, is that increasingly psychologists and theologians are making not different assertions, but rather very similar ones. Psychologists, for example, are not limiting themselves to “brain stories” (to use MacKay’s words) but are increasingly becoming conversant with “I stories,” moving from the mechanical to the personal. This is due to a paradigm shift that is gradually taking place within psychology, one that Jeeves seems unaware of. Even MacKay admits that detached scientific methodology should be abandoned when data are accessible and knowledge is available only through participation. Yet Jeeves sticks by his view that psychology provides “spectator” accounts of reality while theology provides “actor” accounts of the same reality. This assertion is true to the Complementarity Model but untrue to the field of psychology. Were Jeeves, an experimental neuropsychologist, to engage in psychology as a human science rather than a natural science, he would then be able to move to a different integration model, beyond anything he has discussed in his book. Had he entitled the book Experimental Psychology and Christianity: The View Both Ways, there would be no problem.

The topics he covers are fairly standard fare and quite well handled. He has a high view of body and of the wholeness of the person; he discusses psychoanalytic, ethological, behavioristic, and biblical views of persons quite well; he does a good job of discussing MacKay’s principle of logical indeterminacy; he presents informative discussions of conversion, moral development, guilt, and Freud’s and Skinner’s views of religion.

The book is aimed at non-specialists as well as college students majoring in psychology. I recommend the book to them if they keep in mind its limitations.

A Journalist Rejects The Gospels

Jesus Son of Man, by Rudolf Augstein (Urizen, 1977, 408 pp., $12.95), is reviewed by Charles C. Anderson, professor of religion, Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas.

Rudolf Augstein, publisher of the West German newsweekly Der Spiegel, is the author of this controversial book. To evaluate it, one must consider the author’s perspective.

One of the gains in biblical studies in recent years has been the recognition by scholars that no one approaches the biblical literature without preconceptions. At times, however, these preconceptions are so arbitrary as to render balanced treatment of that literature impossible. Augstein, although reared as a Roman Catholic, is now an agnostic. We should therefore be prepared for harsh treatment of his subject, Jesus.

Augstein’s ostensible purpose is to enlighten the layman about what has been accepted among theologians for over a century. As he puts it, “I am now probing how the Christian church dares appeal to a Jesus who never existed, to a mandate he never issued, and to a claim that he was God’s son, which he never presumed for himself.” According to Augstein, Jesus never claimed any of the messianic or theistic titles attributed to him. Augstein arrives at these conclusions by appropriating the more radical elements of German biblical criticism.

How then do we find what we do in our Gospels? Augstein states it simply: “The Gospels contain the lessons of the evangelists, no more; and those in turn contain the lessons of the Essenes, the Qumran community, the apocalyptics, the liberal Pharisees, the strict Pharisees, the Jewish Christians, the Hellenists and nothing else.” One is left with the distinct impression that almost any other source for the life of Jesus is to be preferred to the Gospels. As a consequence, the bulk of the history presented in the Gospels is not to be relied upon; for instance, we cannot be certain that Bethlehem was Jesus’ birthplace and Nazareth was his home town; we cannot be certain that Jesus had a trial. In connection with the crucifixion of Jesus, he writes, “The theme of our book here is that with the evangelists, not excluding Mark, it is no longer possible to sort out what they invented from time to time and what they put out for propaganda purposes.” And, of course, the resurrection is not a historical fact. Most New Testament theology, and even the parables of Jesus, are similarly brushed aside.

Perhaps the most disturbing feature of the book is the nest of assumptions upon which it is built. Augstein accepts only the more skeptical elements in criticism, and these only partially: for example, at points Bultmann is too conservative for him. Augstein shows slight acquaintance with scholarship outside German circles. He asserts that since there was an extended hiatus between the events of Jesus’ life and the writing of the Gospels in which no care for accuracy of transmission was maintained, the Gospels therefore have no “eyewitness” characteristics.

When cynicism will not do, the writing degenerates into sarcasm, which Augstein uses frequently in reference to the more conservative figures in German biblical criticism. The concluding chapter of the book is a defense of his agnostic position.

The historical and theological inadequacies of the book are complemented by frequent printing errors.

Augstein writes, “Paul seems to have suffered unspeakably from the law and the impossibility of satisfying its six hundred and thirteen precepts and prohibitions. More than anything, he wanted to abolish the law, rather than set it aside.” The accuracy of this judgment should be challenged, but could not the same sort of thing be said of Augstein in comparing his present position with his upbringing in the Catholic Church?

American Theologians

Authority and the Renewal of American Theology, by Dennis M. Campbell (Pilgrim Press, 1976, 144 pp., $8.00), is reviewed by Robert K. Johnston, assistant professor of religion, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

There’s a crisis of authority in every sphere of American life today, not the least theology. Christianity has maintained that “apart from the myriad authorities of earthly existence, there is one authority which is final,” God himself. But this ultimate authority is known only indirectly—through the Bible, inner experience, church tradition, the creeds, and human reason. While God is the focus of the Christian’s absolute allegiance, Christian theology through the ages has given “mediate authority” to one or another of these secondary sources. This situation—that there seemingly are multiple options for one’s theological norm—is the cause of the crisis in mainstream American theology, and it is Dennis Campbell’s subject in this book.

Campbell argues that the recovery of theology in America today hinges on the recognition of three things: “the centrality of the problem of authority for theology,” “the centrality of the Christian community as context for theology,” and the necessity of multiple norms for testing and correcting one’s understanding of the faith.

He develops his case historically, selecting representative theologians from five periods in American theology. In the first four chapters he deals with Jonathan Edwards, Horace Bushnell, William Adams Brown, and H. Richard Niebuhr. Each of these theologians, in Campbell’s interpretation, attempted to revitalize theology by adjusting his resolution of the problem of authority to the changing social and intellectual climate he encountered. Turning in chapter five to the present, Campbell highlights Langdon Gilkey, John Cobb, Gordon Kaufman, and Frederick Herzog as men engaged in constructive theology that is both intellectually rigorous and sensitively contemporary.

Jonathan Edwards, says Campbell, responded to the individualism of the Awakening by stressing as his theological authority the immediacy of revelation through “the sense of the heart.” Horace Bushnell, in a time of urban growth, reacted against the individualistic theology of revivalism and stressed that religious authority had its seat not only in experience but also in the Christian community. William Adams Brown (who taught at Union Seminary in New York) turned to man’s reason as the base and authority for theology, in an attempt to make Christianity more compatible with modern man’s new intellectual and sociological situation. After World War I with its shattering blow to the optimism of liberalism, H. Richard Niebuhr sought a new ordering for theological authority by reasserting the centrality of Christian community and the primacy of Revelation as its initiator and authority. His answer Campbell finds much like Bushnell’s and Edward’s.

Of the four theologians out of America’s past, the only one Campbell actively criticizes is Brown. He thinks that this turn-of-the-century liberal compromised the strength of his position by making modern man’s judgment normative in evaluating theology. In his last-chapter look at the contemporary scene, Campbell finds Gilkey’s “ultimacy,” Cobb’s process theology, and Kaufman’s “historicist perspective” similarly defective in that each sees modern secular reason as authoritative for constructive theology. Significantly different from these three positions, though still inadequate, according to Campbell, is the liberation theology of Herzog, which claims “that the Bible is, and must be, the authorizing source and norm for theological thought and action.” Campbell rejects this option, for he asserts (though he never adequately defends the point) that biblical authority is undermined by the fact that interpretations of Scripture vary and that no clear-cut determination of meaning seems possible apart from the use of other norms.

Campbell’s own stated position parallels his description of H. Richard Niebuhr’s. He maintains that “revelation can never be wholly contained in scripture, creed, inner experience, or church teaching, but all these function authoritatively.” One must admit not only the relevance of multiple theological norms but also the fact that there is “no one way of ascribing a hierarchy of importance among them.” Within the locus of “the community of faith,” one must affirm the complex dynamic of multiple norms. In this way one can achieve theological authenticity. “Authorization for constructive Christian theology results precisely from genuine accountability to the complexity of faith as it is expressed in manifold partial witnesses.”

It is interesting to note that Campbell fails to mention Niebuhr’s interest in Schleiermacher and Troeltsch, though their experiential and social roots are basic to Niebuhr’s (and Campbell’s) thought. He seems to want to separate his discussion from the problems in authority encountered by these nineteenth-century liberals. What he wishes to emphasize, along with Niebuhr, is the sovereignty of God as it is mediated through the experience of the faithful community and tested by those who, in Niebuhr’s words, “look from the same standpoint in the same direction.”

But can the faithful community bear this weight? Evangelicals, while seeking insight and correction from the faithful community, have seen the necessity of being radically committed to the Bible for its word and power. While creed, church tradition, inner experience, and reason can all help us stand before the Word (and might perhaps be our entrée to it), it is ultimately theology’s fundamental dependence upon the Bible that gives it authority for faith and life.

Regrettably, Campbell rejects this position. Believing that “the Bible cannot be uniquely authoritative because it does not speak univocally,” he is left, instead, with the multiple records of man’s experience of God as his norm. What should be initiatory and/or corrective has been made normative for Christian theology. What should be ultimately authoritative (i.e., Scripture) has been reduced to secondary importance.

Nevertheless, much about Campbell’s book is worthy of commendation. As a brief, informative historical survey of mainstream American theology, it is worth its price. Concentrating on that distinctly “American” contribution to theology, Campbell rightly focuses on H. Richard Niebuhr rather than on his better-known brother, Reinhold, for “neo-orthodoxy” remains foreign to the mainstream of the American tradition. Moreover, Campbell is correct in seeing the question of authority as the central theological issue. Although evangelicals will not agree with Campbell’s conclusions, they will find his discussion provocative and rightly focused.

Moreover, Campbell performs a valuable service for theology by stressing that its rightful social location is the church. The study of religion as an academic discipline is increasing in America today. This has caused theology to become preoccupied with secular consciousness, to take its cues from the university, and to seek validation in the court of human reason. As Campbell states, “theology initiates in the context of the Christian community; the locus of faith, therefore, may be understood as providing a setting of authorization which is exclusive as well as inclusive.”

Lastly, the book is valuable in pointing out that all theologians, including evangelicals, have multiple norms at work in their formulations. But here too lies the book’s major weakness. While stating that one cannot adjudicate which of the norms is to take priority—Bible creeds, church tradition, inner experience, or reason—Campbell does in fact place theological authority in one area, the collective experience of the church. This norm causes Campbell to reject Brown’s theology for being centered in reason and Herzog’s for having a biblical focus. Here also is why Campbell speaks approvingly of that tradition which finds its partial roots in Edwards and Bushnell and its full fruition in H. R. Niebuhr. Campbell’s operating norm, which is partially obscured by his theoretical commitment to multiple theological authorities, is the experience of God’s revelation as known in the church. It is this, according to Campbell, not reason or Scripture, that is ultimately authoritative.

Evangelicals will have difficulty with such a conclusion. Robert T. Osborn, writing from a standpoint outside evangelicalism, has rightly pointed out in an article entitled “The Rise and Fall of the Bible in Recent American Theology” (The Duke Divinity School Review, Spring, 1976) that the only alternative to a theology authorized by the Bible is a “natural theology authorized by universal human experience.” Campbell’s essentially human-based theology is more attractive (and faithful) than those recent “natural” theologies that he rejects, for it finds its locus in the church. But his ultimate appeal to man’s collective affections must also be rejected by evangelicals, who see the need for concentrating even one’s mediate authority in God himself. Scripture, as God’s uniquely inspired Word in human words, remains our most trustworthy norm and source for theological renewal.

Briefly Noted

PREACHING. It is a good idea for preachers to read a short book on preaching from time to time, both for renewing the sense of the value of the task and for fresh ideas. Various theological and homiletical points of view are represented in these recent titles: A Guide to Biblical Preaching by James Cox (Abingdon, 142 pp., $6.50), commended in our September 9 issue, p. 28; The Excellence of Exposition: Practical Procedure in Expository Preaching by Douglas M. White (Loizeaux, 191 pp., $4.25), a retired Baptist pastor; How Shall They Preach by Gardner C. Taylor (Progressive Baptist Publishing House [850 N. Grove, Elgin, IL 60120], 148 pp., $7.50 and $3.00 pb), the Lyman Beecher lectures at Yale by a leading black Baptist pastor; Biblical Preaching for Contemporary Man, edited by Neil B. Wiseman (Beacon Hill, 166 pp., $3.25 pb), by nine Nazarene leaders; Manual on Preaching by Milton Crum, Jr. (Judson, 189 pp., $8.95), an Episcopal Seminary professor; and Telling Truth: The Foolishness of Preaching in a Real World by James Armstrong (Word, 114 pp., $5.95), United Methodist bishop for the Dakotas. The Saturday Night Special by William L. Self (Word, 135 pp., $5.95) consists mainly of scores of suggested outlines which need considerable expansion by the preacher. Two collections of sermons that are out of the ordinary: Biblical Interpretations in Preaching by Gerhard von Rad (Abingdon, 125 pp., $5.95), showing how a prominent Old Testament critical scholar preaches constructively, and Black Preaching edited by Robert T. Newbold, Jr. (Geneva Press, % Westminster, 177 pp., $8.95), which contains twenty sermons by Black Presbyterians.

Calling his recent book The Best Dad Is a Good Lover, Charlie Shedd is not just employing a gimmick, but stating a fact. He provides his usual fare of breezy insights into family roles (Sheed, Andrews, and McMeel, 133 pp., $5.95).

Two recent publications from Victor Books provide introductory glimpses at the wide variety of religious expressions outside orthodox Christianity. Cults, World Religions, and You by Kenneth Boa (204 pp., $2.50 pb) covers nine Asian religions, a half-dozen of the older Christian deviations, various occult practices such as Tarot, and five aggressive new movements (T.M., Unification, Hare Krishna, Divine Light, and The Way). The Youth Nappers by James Hefley (208 pp., $2.25 pb) is just on the new movements, including the five mentioned above plus twenty-three others, such as Children of God, Local Church, and Scientology.

A classified but unannotated list of books updated through 1974 has become available this year as Aids to a Theological Library, edited by John Trotti (Scholars Press, 69 pp., $4.50 pb).

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) is widely heralded as the leading American theologian. It is a publishing event of considerable magnitude to have in print for the first time ever his 210 page commentary on the last book of the Bible, Notes on the Apocalypse. Also available in complete form for the first time in two centuries is a 128 page work, An Humble Attempt to Promote … Visible Union of God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion … Pursuant to … Prophecies Concerning the Last Time. These two works together with a lengthy and very helpful introduction plus appendixes and index are bound together under the title Apocalyptic Writings and edited by Stephen J. Stein (Yale, 501 pp., $28.50). This volume is easily worth the price over against any half-dozen contemporary writings on the subject, most of which repeat each other. Such repetition cannot be charged to Edwards.

A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea by Jean Daniélou, published by Westminster, is now complete with the appearance of the third volume, The Origins of Latin Christianity (511 pp., $25). At the same time the first volume, The Theology of Jewish Christianity (446 pp., $22.50), originally issued in English in 1964, is now re-issued. (The second volume, Gospel Message and Hellenistic Culture, [540 pp., $17.50] was published in 1973; for a review see April 12, 1974, issue, pp. 36–40.) This major set belongs in all seminary and university libraries.

Self analysis is “in.” David Freeman is to be thanked for presenting a Reformed understanding in Know Your Self (Craig, 100 pp., $3.95 pb). Non-technical language is used in this interaction with contemporary psychological approaches.

James Hefley tells the stories of eight booming congregations that vary widely in their styles in Unique Evangelical Churches (Word, 164 pp., $5.95). Among those he treats are Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, known for its “body life,” the Body of Christ in Melbourne, a charismatic fellowship of which writer Jamie Buckingham is a leader, and Chicago’s inner city LaSalle Street Church, about which Hefley and his wife have also written a whole book, The Church That Takes on Trouble (Cook, 242 pp., $5.95).

Old Testament Books for Pastor and Teacher by Brevard Childs (Westminster, 120 pp., $3.95 pb) tilts too much away from views normally associated with evangelical scholars, but is of value for libraries and for teachers. It serves as a model format that others should follow in this and other subject areas.

MYSTICISM. Although some mysticism has been contained within orthodox Christian boundaries, it more often trangresses them. In addition mysticism is found in (or around) virtually all the world’s religions. For reasonably accurate descriptions of more than 1,000 mystics, movements, symbols, and practices see An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mysticism and the Mystery Religions by John Ferguson (Seabury, 228 pp., $14.95). Of the many books appearing on the subject, these are worth a second look: Mysticism in the World’s Religions by Geoffrey Parrinder (Oxford, 210 pp., $9.50), Mysticism: Window on a World View by Margaret Lewis Furse (Abingdon, 220 pp., $5.95), and Mysticism: Spiritual Quest or Psychic Disorder? by the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (419 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016, 120 pp., $4 pb).

Michael Griffiths, director of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (formerly China Inland Mission), tells about the role of religion in the total social context in Changing Asia (InterVarsity, 120 pp., $7.95). The special asset of the book is the scores of photographs, many in full-color, that vividly depict the people of the most populous continent.

An Introduction to the New Testament is now available in a three-volume set by Mennonite scholar D. Edmond Hiebert (Moody, 300 + 381 + 294 pp., $7.95 each vol.). The first volume, on the gospels and Acts, was issued in 1975. The second, on Paul’s letters, was published under a different title in 1954. The third, on the rest of the books minus Revelation, was issued in 1962. Revelation was added this year.

David Howard, director of the triennial Urbana Missions Convention, in The Great Commission For Today (InterVarsity, 112 pp., $1.95 pb) draws from his Colombian experiences in presenting the world-wide scope of the Great Commission in the context of both testaments. Very readable.

For what’s happened to David Wilkerson’s ministry to drug addicts since The Cross and the Switchblade see The Jesus Factor by David Manuel (Logos, 182 pp., $1.95 pb). A directory of some seventy Teen Challenge centers is appended.

Our Latest

The Black Women Missing from Our Pews

America’s most churched demographic is slipping from religious life. We must go after them.

The Still Small Voice in the Deer Stand

Since childhood, each hunting season out in God’s creation has healed wounds and deepened my faith.

Play Those Chocolate Sprinkles, Rend Collective!

The Irish band’s new album “FOLK!” proclaims joy after suffering.

News

Wall Street’s Most Famous Evangelical Sentenced in Unprecedented Fraud Case

Judge gives former billionaire Bill Hwang 18 years in prison for crimes that outweigh his “lifetime” of “charitable works.”

Public Theology Project

How a Dark Sense of Humor Can Save You from Cynicism

A bit of gallows humor can remind us that death does not have the final word.

News

Died: Rina Seixas, Iconic Surfer Pastor Who Faced Domestic Violence Charges

The Brazilian founder of Bola de Neve Church, which attracted celebrities and catalyzed 500 congregations on six continents, faced accusations from family members and a former colleague.

Review

The Quiet Faith Behind Little House on the Prairie

How a sincere but reserved Christianity influenced the life and literature of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

‘Bonhoeffer’ Bears Little Resemblance to Reality

The new biopic from Angel Studios twists the theologian’s life and thought to make a political point.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube