Millennial groups and others forecasting apocalyptic scenarios have scaled back their predictions since Jan. 1, though they’re not necessarily out of business, reports the Skeptical Inquirer (May/June). As might be expected, those groups and individuals who closely tied their forecasts of apocalyptic events to the year 2000 have revised their views significantly as time has passed. Software […]

African-American Christians and other believers are facing a new pluralism, both with new religious movements emerging and in practices that are causing new divisions. That  was one of the conclusions of a  conference on “The Spiritual State of Black America” which drew hundreds of church leaders, activists, scholars, and laity to Atlanta in May. In the online […]

The same nationalistic fervor leading Canada to diverge from the U.S. on economic and social issues is having a parallel in the churches, reports the Canadian evangelical magazine Faith Today (March/April). Canadian churches, particularly of the evangelical variety, that were once part of American-based denominations are striking out on their own, forming separate identities. Last year, the […]

The theme of cultural exile popular in  predominantly mainline American Protestant theology is more recently influencing the teachings and social ministry of evangelicals. Richard J.Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, writes that this new theme is steadily emerging in several books. In a sympathetic review essay in Christianity Today magazine (April 24), Mouw cites two […]

A movement mixing classical learning and conservative Christian teaching is finding a place in many Christian schools. The curricula movement known as classical Christian education stresses a return to the “great books” and other elements of elite learning traditionally found in private schools in order to reinforce the conservative Christian worldview. Started by conservative Reformed […]

For several years,  accredited American seminaries have been searching for ways to help make the typical “new seminary student” prepared for parish service. As the average age reaches well above 30 for these second career seekers, leaders at the schools are facing “enormous challenges” according to an analysis in the Chronicle of Higher Education (April 7). The major […]

Evangelicals are charging that a pattern of discrimination has gone unchecked for too long in the Navy, and they are now taking their case to court. The Washington Post (April 9)  reports that both in the Navy and the Marines, evangelicals find they are less represented in the chaplaincy and that their chaplains are criticized and passed up […]