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Thanksgiving, giving thanks, and/or being thankful is both expressive and confessional.  In a capitalistic society there are a lot of goods and services exchanged every day. And if you’re like us, you tend to say “thanks” to the employee(s) providing the goods or services. For instance, when the waitress brings our meal, we say “thanks.” When the hotel clerk hands us room keys, we say “thanks.” When the uber driver takes us to our final destination,... Read More

Each Thanksgiving season, I’m struck by the fact that people give thanks for things that they perhaps did not expect. This Thanksgiving, I am spending time with my family in Florida. I am grateful for the warmer weather and the time to rest a bit. This has also given me some time to think about what Thanksgiving is about and our attitudes and actions surrounding this American holiday. Yesterday, Laurie Nichols (our BGC communications director) had a good post on thanking God for the... Read More

The Edinburgh New Testament professor modeled faithful scholarship with his work on historic devotion to Jesus. I went to Larry Hurtado’s office at the University of Edinburgh immediately after I defended my doctoral dissertation. There he was—a scholarly giant, a celebrity in our world—chatting with my husband and nervously bouncing my baby boy on his knee. That’s how Larry was. Hospitable. Approachable. And committed to service, with both his life and his... Read More

In communist East Germany, the church was supposed to be a refuge from the government’s godlike gaze. But the secret police managed to bribe and flatter their way in. Among the many plans for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the augmented reality MauAR app offers users a glimpse into both the sudden and gradual accretions of that sprawling built environment of political control over the 28 contentious years it stood (1961-1989). Through the application’s lens, the... Read More

As Trump administration changes US policy on Jewish settlements, Palestinian council head urges prayer for all. After 12 years of waiting, evangelicals in Palestine now claim they have greater civil rights than their fellow believers in the Holy Land. Earlier this month, the president of the Council of Local Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land—which represents congregations and ministries located in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip—triumphantly held aloft his... Read More

And why advocates say US commitment to the cause cannot let up now. On the 32nd commemoration of World AIDS Day, Christian groups remember their role in leveraging political will to create a transformative global public-private partnership that has shaped the trajectory of AIDS pandemic. Last month, global political leaders finalized commitments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, extending funding through 2023. The Global Fund, founded in 2002, received a boost the... Read More

With the oceans no longer teeming with life, scientists and missionaries alike challenge Christians to faithfulness in the face of daunting odds. Last month, the United Nations released a sobering report about the state of the earth’s oceans. The 1,200-page document, issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), reported warming water temperatures and sharp declines in fish populations and warned that ocean levels could rise up to three feet by the end of the... Read More

Confrontation at protest site forces evangelical faith from the pulpit to the public square. Does a revolution need a leader? As the rocks rained down near the tent of Ras Beirut Baptist Church’s effort to discuss the question, suddenly the faith of the Christians gathered there was put to the test. For the past month, Lebanese evangelicals have debated Scripture, sharing sermons online. One viral effort urges believers to stay away from widespread demonstrations in submission to... Read More

Upside down gratitude is the ability to give thanks even for the parts of our lives which lead us to sadness and struggle and suffer. Arguably the oldest book in the Bible, the Book of Job has become, for many of us, a guidebook on how to suffer well (if there is such a thing). It is worth wondering why Moses (or another) chose to document the life of Job as one of the first entries of God’s faithfulness to humanity. The book begins with a descriptive of Job’s character:... Read More

The income gap in the US corresponds with a church attendance gap. It’s well-established that the gap between the middle class and those who earn the highest incomes in the United States has grown wider over time, spurring partisan responses over how or whether to address income inequality. But there’s a facet of this issue that should be particularly worrisome to Christians: Many of the poorest Americans are abandoning church en masse. By stepping away from church communities,... Read More