and other pursuits of religion in America
Baptists from around the nation are gathering in Birmingham for two meetings this month. Southern Baptists will convene here June 9 - 12. Cooperative Baptists follow June 17 - 21. Attendees will spend much of their time inside the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center. But if they have time to explore the streets of downtown Birmingham, …
Continue reading Baptist Historical Sites in Downtown Birmingham
As I discussed in my previous post, President Donald Trump stopped in at McLean Bible Church yesterday to receive prayer. The church's pastor, David Platt, has posted a letter to his congregation about the event. Platt's letter makes clear that the purpose of the president's visit was to be prayed for, not to pray for …
Continue reading David Platt’s Reflection on the President’s Surprise Visit
Yesterday afternoon was surely one of the odder moments in the history of presidential churchgoing. Returning from midday golf game at the Trump National Golf Club in Loudoun County, Virginia, the President stopped at McLean Bible Church at 2:20 pm to appear in a regularly scheduled Sunday service that started at 1:00 pm. The church …
The three weekdays before Ascension Thursday are known in Anglican calendars as Rogation Days. The Sunday before them is often known as Rogation Sunday. They take their name from the Latin verb, rogare, "to ask." They are special days of intercession, particularly for spring plantings, and were traditionally marked by processions that "beat the bounds" …
Ahead of next month's annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Birmingham, Alabama, the denomination has released its Annual Church Profile showing that the membership of its churches has dropped to 14.8 million, the lowest it has been since 1987. A report published Friday by Christianity Today draws on data from the General Social …
"The days of our age are threescore years and ten." -- Psalm 90:10 (BCP) St. Paul's Episcopal Church on 34th Street in downtown Newport News, Virginia, is closing. (See announcement's on the church's Facebook page, and articles in the Daily Press on April 21, and May 12, and on WAVY on May 14. The final …
Continue reading St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – Closing after almost Seven Score Years
Few things seem to me more expressive of twentieth-century Southern Baptist spirit than the focus on large numbers on the 1984 monument erected on the site where the Southern Baptist Convention was organized in 1845. Memorial tablet in front of 1902 building of First Baptist Church, Augusta, Georgia.April, 27, 2019 In 1983 the denomination reported36,531 …
The name of my academic department has changed for at least the fifth time in its history. Last week Samford University announced that the Department of Religion would now be known as the "Department of Biblical and Religious Studies." One reason for the change is that the department has added a major in biblical studies …
"Civil Religion and the Phenomena of Hamilton" by Emily Jenkins (Samford University, class of 2018) was published in the spring 2019 issue of the Journal of Theta Alpha Kappa. Jenkins argues that the popularity of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton is due in part to the way the musical frames Alexander Hamilton's life through the ideology of …
The practice of referring to the Wednesday of Holy Week as "Spy Wednesday" appears to be growing. I only heard it a few years ago, and I have long enjoyed learning about the details of the liturgical calendar. So I'm surprised I didn't know about it. My wife is equally interested in liturgy, and between …
