When Churches Fail
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When Churches Fail

In Eastcheap, near Fenchurch St. in London, stands the medieval church of St. Margaret Pattens. Founded in 1067 and rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of 1666, it slowly lost its congregation. It was closed as a parish church in 1952—more than 900 years after opening its doors. St. Margaret Pattens still offers…

The Modern Roots of Pagan Halloween
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The Modern Roots of Pagan Halloween

I remember trick-or-treating when I was small. The night air was crisp and cool (we lived in the northwest at the time). My little sister was batman, my older sister a ballerina, and I a clown. My dad held our hands as we walked through the neighborhood, returning home only when our plastic pumpkins brimmed…

Of Pastors and Power: Mark Driscoll and the Avignon Papacy
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Of Pastors and Power: Mark Driscoll and the Avignon Papacy

I made the mistake recently of reading Mark Driscoll’s 2008 Crossway book On Church Leadership. For those of you who have forgotten, or just blocked it, Mark Driscoll was the former pastor of the Mars Hill megachurch. He resigned deep in scandal in 2014, but has recovered somewhat and started a new church in Scottsdale,…

No Room in Wayne Grudem’s World for a Female President
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No Room in Wayne Grudem’s World for a Female President

In a stunning statement, Wayne Grudem–Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary, former professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and co-founder of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood–pledged his wholehearted support of Donald Trump. “[M]y conscience, and my considered moral judgment tell me that I must vote for Donald Trump as…

Gender and the Trinity: A Medieval Perspective
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Gender and the Trinity: A Medieval Perspective

Very recently, on June 16, Christianity Today published the article Gender and the Trinity: From Proxy to Civil War. Author Caleb Lindgren writes that the current debate over the nature of the Trinity is especially significant because it involves like-minded theologians dividing over a core Christian belief: the nature of the Trinity. Is Jesus, the…

Silenced Women–Modern Lessons from an Ancient Murder
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Silenced Women–Modern Lessons from an Ancient Murder

In the second century A.D., the pregnant wife of a prosperous Greek politician died from a vicious assault. Appia Annia Regilla Atilia Caudicia Tertulla, or Regilla, was born into an affluent Roman family in 125 A.D.; she married the Greek politician Herodes Atticus, also from an affluent family, around 140 (when she was 15); and…