“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof … .” With these words, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution enshrines religious freedom as a hallmark of the American experiment. Government will … Continue reading Religious Freedom in a Secular Age | Book Review
There are many ways to understand secularism. In Secularism, Andrew Copson notes that secularism can be understood as a catchall term for “non-religious philosophies, morals, and personal world views” and is thus akin to atheism or humanism (1). It can … Continue reading Secularism | Book Review
American Christians, generally speaking, are ignorant of the history of their own religion in this country, let alone of other religions here. This is not due to a lack of excellent scholarly resources. If anything, there is a surfeit of … Continue reading America’s Religious History | Book Review
Christianity was conceived in a Jewish womb but born into a pagan world. For the first four centuries of its existence, Christianity struggled against the polytheism, violence, and sexual immorality of classical culture, eventually displacing paganism as the default faith of the West. That dominance continued through the Middle Ages until the 16th century, when conflicts between Catholics and Protestants divided Christendom and set the stage for the rise of Enlightenment secularism. Since then, secularism has slowly displaced Christianity as the West’s go-to ideology. That’s the standard narrative of Western history, at any rate. Steven D. Smith’s Pagans and Christians … Continue reading Pagans and Christians in the City | Book Review
“The work of conviction and calling is the Holy Spirit’s,” writes Alan Noble, “but different times and cultures present different barriers to hearing and comprehending the good news.” Some of these barriers are bad ideas, which can be overcome through good apologetics. Others are cultural trends that are harder to spot because they shape the warp and woof of daily existence. In Disruptive Witness, Noble identifies two such trends: “(1) the practice of continuous engagement in immediately gratifying activities that resist reflection and meditation, and (2) the growth of secularism, defined as a state in which theism [i.e., belief in … Continue reading Disruptive Witness | Book Review
To be a Christian is to bear witness to Jesus Christ in the place and time in which you live. Every age presents unique challenges to, as well as unique opportunities for, Christian witness. In this episode, I talk to Prof. Alan Noble about how Christians can bear witness to Christ in the midst of a distracted, secular culture. Alan Noble is assistant professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University, cofounder and editor-in-chief of Christ and Pop Culture, and author of Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age, published by IVP Books and hitting bookstores on Tuesday, July 17. P.S. This podcast is … Continue reading Speaking Truth in a Distracted, Secular Age | Influence Podcast
October 31, 2017, marks the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation. On that date in 1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther posted a document calling for academic debate on the door of the Castle Church of … Continue reading Rebel in the Ranks | Book Review
John Fea, Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction, rev. ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2016). Few questions in American politics generate as much controversy as the relationship between church and state. On one side are … Continue reading Review of ‘Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?’ (revised edition) by John Fea
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