The Evangelical Theological Society held its annual meeting earlier this month, and Christianity Today’s blast email today features a piece on ETS’s most popular breakout session. CT blogger Ted Olsen reports on J.P. Moreland’s standing-room only “How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It.”
In an effort to both bridge the gap between science and Catholic teaching on bioethical issues such as abortion and stem cell research, the Vatican is organizing a conference next week on the origin and development of the human embryo.
Grassley, who in recent years has forced changes in such nonprofit organizations as the American Red Cross, the Nature Conservancy, American University and the Smithsonian Institution, said in a statement that the allegations involve such amenities as private jets and Rolls-Royces. He has also asked for credit card records, clothing and jewelry expenses and any cosmetic surgery expenses.
The Episcopal Church is not alone in struggling to address the matter of GLBT people and ordained ministry. The United Methodist Church has been trying to figure out what to do about the Rev. Drew Phoenix. Phoenix, previously, was the Rev. Ann Brown, and underwent sexual reassignment surgery a year and a half ago. After his reappointment to continue pastoring his congregation at St. Johns United Methodist Church in Baltimore earlier this year by his bishop, several other clergymembers in the Baltimore-Washington conference challenged the decision.
Monastic traditions are influencing people afresh today. Clearly, the various orders have both preserved Christian tradition for us and left us with their own vital traditions that can enhance our own spiritual walk and that of our community. While a full embrace of the monastic way of life may not be for everyone, many Christians today are finding that their own love for God and for the world can be enriched through a little flirting—flirting with monasticism
A group of leaders of the largest coalition of Reformed churches says that the growing gap between rich and poor is a new form of
Friends Congregational UCC in College Station, Texas, learned this summer that the church was disqualified from Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program, which encourages churches to buy Christmas presents for the children of inmates.
The Metropolitan Community Church was founded in 1968 as a church home for the GLBT faithful who otherwise had no welcoming church home. With a change in attitude in many mainline congregations, however, the future of the Church may be in doubt.
While the Episcopal Church weighs how to deal with the differences in whether to ordain partnered homosexuals or to develop rituals for blessing same sex relationships, and while the House of Bishops debates crucial issues, the National Council of the Church of Norway is reevaluating its pastoral practice after 14 years experience with civil unions in that nation.
“The bigger reality for us is having to accept the whole concept of obedience, and that is a harder cultural pill to swallow than I realized,” he said. “I’m forced to encounter my own resistance and bias.” Johnson, who was previously a priest in the Episcopal Church, has been under the Rwandan authority since 2004.