I grew up among ethnic pietistic Baptists who tended to emphasize the emotional and personal aspects of religion over against the liturgical, Traditional, and ecumenical. It was a simple faith that retains enough charm so as not to be off-putting, though I can only take it in small doses nowadays. While conservative in its theological orientation it was not fundamentalist, but there was enough of an influence from the popular fundamentalist milieu and networks so as to leave me with an ability to recognize the language and mentality when I came across it.

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For more information visit the Baptist Theological Seminary website.

Here’s a second opportunity for all you bibliophiles to get a free book for your summer reading. Our contest prize is Sacred Schisms: How Religions Divide, by James R. and Sarah M. Lewis (Cambridge 2009). The book claims to be the “first book-length study or religious schisms as a general phenomenon.”

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It’s been a while since we’ve had a GRACE Writes blog contest. Here’s a summer book contest for our readers and visitors. The first person to correctly identify the authors of four of the five works listed below correctly will win the book prize.

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Compared to other denominations and faith traditions, Baptists can be rather antinomian. Like many things religious, that can be a blessing and a curse. Dealing with other denominations on matters related to theological education and academic administration can leave me feeling caught in a bureaucratic twilight zone of Kafkian proportions. Faith traditions often have their own internal logic that makes little sense to outsiders. Seeking understanding from insiders inevitable yields mumbled talk about “tradition” followed by a coda of a shrugged shoulder that communicates a helpless “What can you do?” At those moments I prefer my free church roots that will as likely yield a response of “Yeah, sure, we can do that. Why not?” as a “We’ve never done it that way before.”

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Bad ideas are like bad pennies. Despite my promise to self to have put the issue of postmodernism (pomo) to bed with “Galindo’s Last Postmodern Rant” the concept remains one of those “ideas people fall in love with.” Here’s a piece by Andre Gucksmann on pomo and the current financial crisis from City Journal, titled “The Postmodern Financial Crisis.” Here’s an excerpt:

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Here’s another interesting article on the brain-God connection question. The article is by Michael Brooks and it appears in New Scientist (Feb. 4, 2009). Here’s an excerpt:

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Here are a couple of interesting and worth-reading bible background articles from sources you likely would not expect to find such. I think they are both worth the read:

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I recently received a surprise call from a former professor of mine. He was gracious and kind to call me to congratulate me on the new job. A former dean himself I accepted the condolences. It was one of those tender conversations of a teacher expressing gratification (if not relief) for a former student’s success. And it was an opportunity for a former student to express gratitude to a mentor and teacher who opened up future possibilities. Those are tender moments, and they happen too infrequently.

At one point in our conversation my former teacher, long retired now, asked, “So, what are seminarians like these days?”

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Students in my online class have been studying about leadership in the congregation. From their reading (The Hidden Lives of Congregations) they are discussing some of the concepts addressed in the book: (1) the function of leadership is influence, (2) the importance of the leader as resident theologian, and (3) it takes 3-5 years for the pastoral leader to get to a place of influence that does not derive from his or her position.

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