From the Anxious Bench Archives I went to a perfect wedding last weekend. It was deep in the rural heart of Central Texas. Wide open fields dotted with cattle and the occasional John Deer tractor were broken by scattered farm houses. The roads were narrow and dusty; population signs for the small towns counted inhabitants […]
The chair scraped next to me. It was 2:30 on Friday afternoon—time for our scheduled break. For three years I have been writing every Friday afternoon with a group of faculty women, blocking our calendars and ignoring emails. For three years I break with them for 15 minutes, pulling our chairs into a small circle.
Because We Have Made God Too Small: A Baylor Professor’s Apology to Kaitlin Curtice Read More »
A country church burned to the ground last week. Flames billowed over its wooden spires in a scene reminiscent of Notre Dame. But while stone defended the Parisian cathedral, the timber walls of the Church of the Visitation in Westphalia, Texas, didn’t stand a chance. Winds blustered that morning, fanning the fire and ensuring total
Just last week I found myself at the corner of Burrard Street and Nelson Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. I was making my wayfrom the airport to my hotel, via the Vancouver metro system. I know most folk just grab a cab, especially when luggage is in tow. But using public transportation orients me to
What Southern Baptists Can Learn From Canadian Baptists…… Read More »
In fifteenth-century England, a (probably Franciscan) friar lived on the east coast near the cathedral city of Ely. Like many other medieval sermon authors, he included in his Lenten series a narrative from Matthew 15: the story of the Woman of Canaan. I have talked about this story before, and I am sure many of
Because Jesus Choosing Male Disciples Doesn’t Mean What We Think…. Read More »
I opened the door to my car when my phone buzzed. I glanced quickly at the twitter thread on my screen before setting it down on the passenger seat. I put the keys in the ignition and shifted to reverse. But then my brain clicked. I turned the car off and picked my phone back
I usually never read comments on my blogs, much less respond to them. But one recently caught my eye. It was posted on a twitter thread following a tweet by Katelyn Beaty about my last AB article posted by Scot McKnight on Jesus Creed (sorry, the social media world can be a confusing place…). This
Who Defines Preaching Anyway? Beth Moore and Catherine of Siena Read More »
In 1976, Elisabeth Elliot published her landmark book Let Me Be A Woman: Notes to My Daughter on the Meaning of Womanhood. If you remember, Elisabeth Elliot’s first husband Jim was one of five missionaries speared to death in Ecuador in 1956. Let Me Be A Woman was a gift to her daughter, Valerie–Elliot’s only
“Let Me Be A Woman” Revised? Elisabeth Elliot and Beth Moore Read More »
“White Jesus has blood on him.” Angela Tarango, Associate Professor of Religion at Trinity University, said this during the Conference on Faith and History’s 2019 panel for the American Historical Association meeting in Chicago last weekend. The panel (which I was so excited to have organized) featured Jennifer Graber’s excellent and provocative book The Gods
A carved image, about two feet tall, stands alone in a glass case in the Cluny Museum in Paris. At first it seems a typical image of the Madonna and Child. Both look straight ahead, holding the gaze of the viewer. Their matching golden robes fade so easily into the golden background that it is
Sorry, John Piper, (Medieval) Christianity Doesn’t Have A Masculine Feel Read More »