Category Archives: America and Americanism

A Pentecostal Ecumenist Reflects on the New Pope and His Installation (2)

Posted on March 28, 2013 by John Armstrong

Papal Audience with Ecumenical and Interreligious Representatives March 20, 2013 Last evening, we were informed that Pope Francis I needed to postpone our audience with him by one hour.  Thus, following a leisurely breakfast at our hotel, which we shared … Continue reading →

Posted in America and Americanism, Church History, Church Tradition, Current Affairs, Evangelism, Missional-Ecumenism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Uncategorized, Unity of the Church | 2 Comments

FDR’s Holocaust Legacy – A Lesson in the Failure of Moral Courage

Posted on March 13, 2013 by John Armstrong

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was, and still is, one of most admired and esteemed presidents in American history. I grew up hearing a lot of good things about FDR. I also heard some bad things from those who felt the … Continue reading →

Posted in America and Americanism, Culture, Ethics, History, Immigration, Israel, Politics | 8 Comments

Boyd Crowder: Justified or Apostate?

Posted on March 8, 2013 by John Armstrong

You can gain wisdom from a lot of sources. Now and then a script writer for a television show actually speaks truth more powerfully than many of the children of the light. (I have no idea about the faith of … Continue reading →

Posted in America and Americanism, Religion, Television | 5 Comments

Voluntarist Protestantism and the Dangers of Secular Modernity

Posted on March 7, 2013 by John Armstrong

Voluntarist/Biblicist Churches During the same period that I referred to yesterday, and especially since the decade of 1960s, churches deeply centered in teaching the Bible have grown numerically. Only recently has this growth begun to significantly slow down, a fact … Continue reading →

Posted in America and Americanism, American Evangelicalism, Culture, Current Affairs, Marriage & Family, Missional Church, Protestantism, Separation of Church & State, The Church, The Future | 2 Comments

Non-Voluntarist Protestantism and the Dangers of Secular Modernity

Posted on March 6, 2013 by John Armstrong

There are two types of churches which constitute the visible expression of  Christianity in the modern age. For the sake of simplicity let me call these two expressions of the church the non-voluntary and the voluntary models. If these seem … Continue reading →

Posted in America and Americanism, American Evangelicalism, Culture, Current Affairs, Ideology, Missional Church, Postmodernity, Protestantism, Religion, The Church, The Future, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

The Real Threat to Personal Faith Commitment to Christ

Posted on March 5, 2013 by John Armstrong

I would argue that in America the impact of personal and social secularization is different than in virtually all other Western nations. The reason for this is because religion was never formally established in America as a function in which … Continue reading →

Posted in America and Americanism, American Evangelicalism, Culture, Current Affairs, Discipleship, Education, Emergent Church, Marriage & Family, Missional Church, Protestantism, Separation of Church & State, The Church, The Future | 4 Comments

Secularization: Its Impact Upon America and Americans

Posted on March 4, 2013 by John Armstrong

Various theories of secularization have been advanced to explain what has happened to the cultures of the West. It seems fairly clear that social secularization has caused religion to lose its power and influence over and within Western society. This … Continue reading →

Posted in America and Americanism, American Evangelicalism, Culture, Protestantism, Religion, The Church, The Future | 7 Comments

Understanding our Exilic Missional Context: Evangelicalism and Liberalism in Twentieth Century America

Posted on February 28, 2013 by John Armstrong

Most historians and religion scholars now agree that by the twentieth century liberal Protestantism had led to a mainstream Protestantism that was vague, theistic and excessively nationalistic. In a profound sense, concludes British Christian Studies scholar Linda Woodhead, “liberal Protestantism’s … Continue reading →

Posted in America and Americanism, American Evangelicalism, Church History, Culture, Current Affairs, Emergent Church, History, Ideology, Missional Church, Politics, Protestantism, Reason, The Church, The Future, Women in the Church | 9 Comments

How Exile Came About: American Protestantism’s Common Ground (3)

Posted on February 27, 2013 by John Armstrong

Three main points underscore the unity that American Protestantism enjoyed into the early part of the twentieth century. Protestants shared a voluntaristic approach that viewed religion as a matter of individual free choice thus it was able to tolerate the … Continue reading →

Posted in America and Americanism, American Evangelicalism, Church History, Culture, Kingdom of God, Protestantism, Reason, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church | 4 Comments

How Exile Came About: Theological and Cultural Developments in the Nineteenth Century (2)

Posted on February 26, 2013 by John Armstrong

Near the end of the nineteenth century the evangelical experience of Christianity in America changed things in the church even more radically than previous movements had done within historic Protestantism. While the paradigm of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress remained deeply … Continue reading →

Posted in America and Americanism, American Evangelicalism, Church History, Culture, Evangelism, Feminism & Women, Kingdom of God, Religion, The Church, Women in the Church | 8 Comments