Evans recently gave a two-part presentation on the subject at his Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas. Here is Part 1: Here is Part 2: A couple of quick thoughts: First, Evans clearly believes in systemic racism and the value...
race and evangelicalism
The story behind Jemar Tisby’s The Color of Compromise
Christianity Today is running a fascinating piece by Dan Hummel on the history of Jemar Tisby‘s breakout best-seller The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism. Here is a taste: Then Tisby began to shop...
Conservative columnist on systemic racism: “I didn’t create these systems. But I wish I had realized earlier that these systems had created me”
Here is Wheaton College graduate and former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson: Systems had been carefully created to ensure I went to an all-White church, in an all-White neighborhood, while attending an all-White Christian school and shopping in all-White...
2021 Owen Strachan would condemn 2014 Owen Strachan as WOKE
Owen Strachan is an outspoken and bombastic conservative evangelical seminary professor who just published a book titled Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement Is Hijacking the Gospel–and the Way to Stop It. Here are some of his tweets...
Paige Patterson and the “black girl”
In a recently leaked letter to the leadership of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore letter he wrote: Another SBC leader used constant pressure against me in protest of our hiring of Dan Darling and Trillia...
Early responses to the leaked Russell Moore letter
What letter? Get up to speed here. An array of responses: Thread and the backstory: Here’s more: Meanwhile, Albert Mohler is running for office:...
We now have a better understanding of why Russell Moore left his post with the Southern Baptist Convention
And it has little to do directly with Trump. Here is Paul O’Donnell and Bob Smietana at Religion News Service: For years before his resignation last month as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the...
What is going on at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul?
I linked to this story in my May 24, 2021 Evangelical Roundup, but I thought it deserved a separate post. The University of Northwestern, a Christian college in St. Paul, Minnesota, appears to be making a good-faith effort to deal...
Are you looking for an evangelical congregation not divided by race, Trump, or COVID-19? Good luck
Many evangelical Christians believe that racism is a problem in the church, Trump was bad for the church, and COVID-19 revealed selfishness in the church. Some are deciding to stay in their divided congregations and work toward reconciliation. Others are...
The Wheaton College professor who teaches critical race theory
Over at Sojourners, Mitchell Atencio interviews Wheaton College (IL) philosophy professor Nathan Cartagena. Here is a taste of the interview: Mitchell Atencio, Sojourners: Because critical race theory has become such a hot-button issue, especially in white evangelical circles, do you...
Black Southern Baptists are “deeply disappointed” that seminary presidents continue to reject critical race theory in “all its forms”
The debate over critical race theory continues to divide the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Last November, the presidents of the six denominational seminaries published a statement declaring that critical race theory is incompatible with Southern Baptist theology. In response to...
The Reformed evangelical community reckons with race
Over at The Anxious Bench, historian Dan Williams historicizes the battles over racial justice currently taking place within the Reformed (Calvinist) wing of American evangelicalism. The battle is over what to do about critical race theory and the Black Lives...
Esau McCaulley’s Christian view of social justice
I am looking forward to reading Wheaton College professor Esau McCaulley‘s book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation As An Exercise in Hope. He talks about it here: And here: Over at The New York Times, David Brooks writes...
A Black Evangelical family in Trumpland
Isaac Bailey is the James K. Batten Professor of Public Policy at Davidson College. In a recent piece at Politico, he describes what his son experienced at Erskine College, a Reformed Christian college in Due West, South Carolina. Here is...
Evangelical pastor, author, and theologian Timothy Keller published a tweet on critical race theory. Look what happened:
On Friday, Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, wrote a post about critical race theory: Critical race theory is not the Gospel, but it can certainly help Christians understand our current moment. It has been useful...
The Liberty University Falkirk Center continues to promote evangelical Trumpism:
Yesterday I noted that Calvary Chapel-Chino Hills has emerged as a prominent site for Trump’s evangelical lost cause movement. Today I highlight (once again) the “think tank” associated with this movement: Liberty University’s Falkirk Center. It continues to baffle me...
What is going on at Bluefield College?
Bluefield College is a Christian college located in Bluefield, Virginia. (Bluefield College is not to be confused with Bluefield State College, a Historical Black College and University). It is a member of the Council of Christian Colleges & Universities. Recently,...
The Author’s Corner with Richard Boles
Richard Boles is Assistant Professor of History at Oklahoma State University. This interview is based on his new book, Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Segregated Churches in the Early American North (NYU Press, 2020). JF: What led you to...