An evangelical Christian engaging the world…..
Standing in front of the doors to the Castle Church of Wittenberg 500 years after Martin Luther nailed the ninety-five theses which started the Reformation is exhilarating beyond words. There is something about being there physically and hearing sermons referencing the vision of the reformers that connect oneself to the history that transformed the world. Read More …
(I am a Baptist. Alright, then, for all those Baptists out there, this article is not a criticism from outside our denomination. We are just talking about stuff that is happening in our own backyard.) Not too long ago I had the pleasure of reengaging the subject of immersion versus sprinkling. It was Read More …
I. Worship and Spirituality The Sunday worship reflects the spirituality of the church. Before I go on, I must define what I mean by “spirituality”. Alister McGrath says this: For Christianity, spirituality concerns the living out of the encounter with Jesus Christ. The term “Christian spirituality” refers to the way in which the Christian life is Read More …
Part III: Chinese Christians from Mainland China Introduction It must have been five years ago when I listened to Dr. Carver Yu, the president of China Graduate School of Theology (CGST) in Hong Kong, speaking in California. Yu gained his ThM from Fuller and later earned his doctorate degree from Oxford, then finishing up Read More …
Part II: Taiwan Churches in North America Introduction A Chinese theologian once defined “history” as the self-perception of a people. It is from this philosophical perspective that I attempt to write this series of articles. The contemporary history of China is so complex that a fair examination of all significant events belongs to Read More …
Introduction: In search of a context Theology never comes out of a vacuum. There is always a context for its birth. For example, the doctrine of Trinity came out of the concern of Jesus’ deity. If Jesus is God, and Yahweh is God, and there is only one God, then how do we Read More …
I was once invited to speak to some seminary students on the subject of how the view on the construct of man affects the expression of daily spirituality. I explained to the class that holding a trichotomous view of “body-soul-spirit” versus a dichotomous “corporeal and non-corporeal” position would result in radically different life Read More …
The Peril of Legalism A friend of mine recently attended a Pentecostal church, and she sought my opinion. After giving her some points on theology and spiritual implications, I mentioned the potential of having guilt-feeling in Pentecostalism. At her request, I explained that Pentecostals see speaking in tongues as the overarching evidence of the Read More …
A restlessness has been simmering within North American Protestant churches since 2000 that calls for reform. The energy was at first scattered but later gained focus and momentum through the leadership of Brian McLaren. The movement, if we can call it that, is known as Emerging Church and now Emergent Church. God raised up different Read More …
Evangelicalism owes much of her tradition to the Pietistic Movement in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. According to David Bebbington, four characteristics regularly appear in evangelical statements about the kernel of Christianity—namely, the Bible, the cross, conversionism, and activism.[1] One may find the first and the last of these four elements well rooted in Pietism. Read More …