Blog - Page 315 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Problem of Fundamentalism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:05-05:00June 2nd, 2005|Categories: The Church|

Over the past two weeks I have written two semi-academic articles on the dangers of fundamentalism. (See the Weekly Messenger, May 23 and May 30, at www.reformationrevival.com. You may sign up for these free weekly e-mails if you do not currently receive them.) Another article, "The Dangers of the Fundamentalist Ditch," will be published on June 6, as the third and final installment in my series.

A writer is sometimes biased about his own work. I feel these three articles are some of my more important written work over the past five years. Now, it may not be my best work. I leave that to my readers to decide. However, I sense it is important work precisely because the ideas expressed in these articles are needed to help readers understand why the evangelical movement cannot afford to keep falling back into the traps of fundamentalism, either that of method or theology. What is needed is a fresh recovery of healthy evangelical orthodoxy that embraces the whole church and its Great Tradition.

Almost every week I […]

In America Even Catholics Are Cultural Calvinists

By John Armstrong|2005-06-01T07:25:11-05:00June 1st, 2005|Categories: Politics|

A few years ago Cardinal Francis George, the archbishop of Chicago, lamented at a gathering of bishops and other Catholic leaders, that in America even Catholics are "culturally Calvinist." By this Cardinal George acknowledged the simple fact that America cannot be analyzed apart from what Stephen H. Webb has called, "the way providential theology has shaped its understanding of foreign affairs" (American Providence: A Nation with a Mission, New York: T & T Clark, 2005). America’s power in the world, Webb maintains, cannot be understood unless you consider the role of providence in its historical self awareness.

The rise of evangelical interest in politics over the past three decades is not the beginning of this role. In some ways it is simply the continuation of a long historical tradition of mainstream American Protestantism. Webb believes that we can best frame the present debate as between providentialists and anti-providentialists, not between liberals and conservatives. I find this insight immensely helpful.

Let me put this another way. The question boils down to this: "Is God using America to do something special in […]

Memorial Day Reflections: Can Politics Change Culture?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:05-05:00May 30th, 2005|Categories: Politics|

By training, I am a historian. At least I like to think so. I had good teachers, and I still love the subject. I dabble in it, even professionally, and even get asked to lecture occasionally. I am also a keen observer of American political debate. I have a horse in most political races, and it is generally the one that could be labeled conservative, though not rigidly so. I also believe in what professor Stephen H. Webb has called "American Providence." (Perhaps more about Webb’s historical thesis later this week.) Simply put, God cannot be removed from American life and politics if one has a robust view of providence, as I think I do.

As we celebrate Memorial Day I am struck as an American, and a historian, at how divided we are as a nation. No one doubts that we are divided, at least politically. Think red and blue states. But we are increasingly divided at the more basic level of community values and national vision. In the end I think it is safe to say that the unique American […]

Soul Searching Among America's Youth

By John Armstrong|2005-05-27T07:46:44-05:00May 27th, 2005|Categories: Renewal|

Most American teens indicate that religious faith is very important in their lives. That is truly good news. In addition, they are far more influenced by the religious beliefs and practices of their parents and other adults than is commonly thought. The bad news is that religion is deprioritized and poorly understood by teens. This is the conclusion of Christian Smith, the Stuart Chapin Distinguished Professor and Associate Chair of Sociology at the University of North Carlina, in the much acclaimed new book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Smith’s study is based upon the most extensive and ambitious national study ever conducted among American teens about their religious and spiritual lives. Kendra Creasy Dean, the author of another important study of youth, calls Soul Searching "a bombshell, and that is one long overdue." It shows, she says, that our assumptions about youth and religion have bene profoundly wrong. Instead of finding general apathy or hostility the study shows are that America’s teens are very interested in faith. There is further good news here, […]

What Should We Make of the Blogging Rage?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:06-05:00May 26th, 2005|Categories: Current Affairs|

Kevin Maney, in a weekly technology column in the Wednesday edition (May 25) of USA Today, suggests the present growth of blogging will chill out relatively soon. His piece is actually a very funny spoof on the growing rage for blogs. Had I read Maney in March I might have hesitated to begin this business of regularly writing blogs.

Maney concludes about the blog business:

"So, yeah, blogs are cool. Anything that gives people a voice benefits society and makes us all better and smarter–and, as bloggers have proved, makes established information outlets more accountable. But blogs don’t seem to be the second coming of the printing press. They’re just another turn of the wheel in communications technology."

Maney pokes fun at the notion that this is a great new revolution that will "change everything." He notes that every new technology is significant for a time, and alters the dynamics of society and business to varying degrees. Blogs are doing that as well. But, as Maney properly notes, "each technology has also gone through a cycle of superhype, followed by […]

Cultural Hot Topics and the Pulpit

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:06-05:00May 25th, 2005|Categories: The Church|

Timothy Merrill, executive editor of the magazine Homiletics, urged pastors last week to scrap their preaching plans for May 22 so they could take advantage of a historic moment. What moment was that you ask? Well, the rush to see and discuss “The Revenge of the Sith,” George Lucas’ third film in the newer version Star Wars films. Merrill noted that it was a Jedi night at theatres around the country late last week, as Stars fans lined up to see the movie, some late into the evening.

Merrill wrote this in his online advice column:

[…]

A Gracious Work of God in an Old Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:06-05:00May 23rd, 2005|Categories: Renewal|

I am afforded the opportunity to preach and teach in churches across many denominational and ethnic lines. I get to serve new church plants, as well as older churches that have considerable history. By this calling I am allowed to see renewal from many different angles.

I have drawn attention to "emergent" churches in recent weeks. Today I write about an old church, Randolph Street Baptist in Charleston, West Virginia. Spiritual life is presently being renewed in and by the Holy Spirit at Randolph Street. I taught in Charleston on mission and evangelism in a lovely Saturday Seminar setting on May 21. I then taught the adults on Matthew 18:21-22 yesterday, May 22. I also preached from Matthew 9:35-38 in the worship celebration that followed. Then last evening we had an open house at the pastor’s home and I spoke to a number of the folks who have loved me and prayed for me here in Charleston for twenty years. It was a delightful weekend in every way.

What thrills me the most about these developments is to see how the Spirit has moved to begin a […]

More Reflections on Osteen

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:06-05:00May 20th, 2005|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

My purpose, in my several blogs on Joel Osteen, that were written over the past eleven days, was not to argue about Lutheran-Reformed hermeneutical frameworks. Nor was my purpose to deny the obvious point one reader made, namely that all of us use frameworks and thus hermeneutics is an extremely vital matter for reading and hearing the Bible correctly. That is precisely the point I tried to make, if I understand what I wrote.

What I am attempting to do is to get people who use a particular system to not do so with such confidence. I am hopeful that some will seriously reflect upon where they come from historically on these issues. If this small step is taken we can have an honest discussion and even profitable disagreement.

Let me suggest for those who have any interest in the point I have tried to make about certainty that they read Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, & Certainty in Christian Discipleship (Eerdmans, 1995), by the late Reformed missional-theologian Lesslie Newbigin. If you want to understand what I mean about Horton’s sense of certainty, and why I believe […]

Standing Against Homosexual Protest

By John Armstrong|2005-05-18T10:51:15-05:00May 18th, 2005|Categories: Current Affairs|

A St. Paul, Minnesota, Roman Catholic priest denied communion to more than a hundred people on Sunday, May 15, saying they could not receive the sacrament because they wore rainbow-colored sashes to church to show their support for gay Catholics.

The Associated Press reported, in a May 16 story, that a group called the Rainbow Sash Alliance has encouraged supporters to wear the multicolored fabric bands since 2001 on each Pentecost Sunday, the day many Christians celebrate the Holy Spirit’s coming to give power to Christians soon after Jesus ascended to heaven. But Sunday’s Minnesota service was the first time these activists were actually denied communion at the altar.

In an expression typical of liberal support for these activists Sister Gabriel Herbers said she wore her sash to show sympathy for the gay and lesbian community. She noted that their sexual orientation ”is a gift from God just as much as my gift of being a female is."

The activist nun’s quote undercores the primary argument now advanced by the homosexual community and its supporters. Sexual inclination, or "orientation" as it is called, is inherent in our genes and […]

How Joel Osteen Has Impacted My Life

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:25:07-05:00May 17th, 2005|Categories: The Church|

I have contributed two previous posts to this blogspot on the rising popular ministry of Houston preacher Joel Osteen. I am amazed at the interest expressed about these two entries. It has forced me to read numerous comments, both critical and supportive, and thereby rethink the whole issue several times. I find myself in agreement with certain points made by my critics but still feeling they generally miss the central points that I have made.

1. I did not intend to write an apologia for Joel Osteen or his ministry. I am not qualified to do so.

2. I did say that his ministry was useful for some Christians. Though very simplistic, his writing and preaching do offer simple words of Christian hope. I can learn a great deal from this. I need to be simpler in my presentation of truth, a quality that does not overflow with abundance in my own circles of theological conviction.

3. I also concluded that Osteen, contrary to some critics, is not a heretic. He is a very popular charismatic minister, warts and all.

4. Finally, I questioned one major aspect of […]