peterlumpkins.com

Theological liberalism in the SBC? A Brief Response

Baptist Press recently published a First-Person article entitled "Theological Liberalism in the SBC?" by Rhett Wilson, freelance author, bivocational pastor, and a senior writer for The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Wilson also blogs and, in fact, blogs well. I read several of his pieces and without qualification commend them. He is a superb writer. On the other hand, I think Wilson misses his target completely in his estimation of what's going on the the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Allow me to explain. As the title of his piece in Baptist... Read more →

Alternate Presidential Candidate for #NeverTrump supporters Denny Burk, Russell Moore, and the ERLC

It's no secret that some high-profile Southern Baptists are pushing evangelicals toward a #NeverTrump position. Among the more aggressive top-tier influencers (especially among younger evangelicals) stand Denny Burk and Russell Moore, both Southern Baptists, both #NeverTrump members, both employees at entities owned by the Southern Baptist Convention--The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission respectively. Many Southern Baptists think their posturing toward #NeverTrump to be either misguided or unstudied. Below is one response to the third-party, write-in candidacy both Burk and Moore have recently promoted. First,... Read more →

James M. Dunn and Soul Freedom: A Review by Peter Lumpkins

Aaron Weaver (a.k.a. "Big Daddy Weave"), doctoral candidate and Graduate Fellow with the Baylor University Academy for Teaching and Learning, has a new book release entitled, James M. Dunn and Soul Freedom ($14.40, Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Macon, 224 pages) >>> James Dunn is presently the president of the Baptist Joint Committee Endowment and Professor of Christianity and Public Policy at Wake Forest Divinity School in Winston-Salem, N.C. Dr. Dunn, however, is most known among Southern Baptists for his leadership as the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee (BJC)... Read more →

Calvinism on the Rise: A New Barna Study Challenges the Reformed Revival in America by Peter Lumpkins

Whether one reads the young, restless, and reformed guru, Collin Hansen, or takes seriously Ed Stetzer’s statistics that suggests Calvinism is on the rise (especially in the SBC), or accepts the rhetoric that Reformed church planting leads the pack by a country mile in new church starts, The Barna Group’s newly released study “Is There a “Reformed Movement” in American Churches?” rains on the Calvinistic come-back parade >>> For at least 10 years, Barna has tracked American non-Catholic clergy who identify the churches they serve as "Calvinist or Reformed." Presently,... Read more →

Everything You Know about Evangelicals is Wrong (Well Almost Everything): A Book-Look by Peter Lumpkins

Beginning in the last quarter of the 20th century, evangelicals rode their white horses to religious stardom. As Liberal and mainline denominational colleges and seminaries shrunk, evangelical student bodies swelled fat and prosperous. Fame was short-lived, however. While Newsweek proclaimed 1976 as “the year of the evangelical,” church historian Martin E. Marty predicted rough days ahead for evangelicals as early as 1989. Indeed, some theologians now question whether the term “evangelical” has not expended itself completely. For example, >>> Westminster Theological Seminary professor, D. A. Hart, suggested in his book,... Read more →

Helpful Study Links by Peter Lumpkins

Below are some helpful study links....Maybe... Be warned, however. The content on these sites is for serious readers only. No blogger dumbing down the messy details. Nor are all papers biblically or baptistically sound. Also, some are conservative, some on the extreme theological left. Yet most represent scholarly presentations nonetheless (NOTE: some journals are now defunct but contents are still available. Also, some have only partial availability). Save them in your bookmarks or download the papers to searchable pdf files. And, the best part???............................ All content is free! Journal of... Read more →

Liberalism Remembered: Recalling Classic Liberalism's Most Famous Sermon

On June 10, 1922, amidst the swirling tornado sweeping through the Church of Jesus Christ, the noted voice of Baptist minister, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Pastor of the historic First Presbyterian Church in New York, delivered what came to be perhaps the most famous sermon of Liberalism: "Shall The Fundamentalists Win?" While Fosdick is seen by some to be a martyr for preaching this sermon since it cost him his pulpit, he became the poster boy for modern Liberalism as the thrust of the Liberal movement set itself against the Fundamentalists... Read more →