History and Science
Forgotten gods: When we buried Summanus’s lightning
What can the followers of other gods learn from the fate of the forgotten god Summanus?
Analyzing Christianity
The most spectacularly broken promise Jesus ever made
In the Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus makes a lot of promises to his disciples. In between mass-healing people of physical and emotional distress through his magic, he promises that he’ll return before his followers “tasted death,” and that he’ll give them whatever they ask of him/his father in Read more
Analyzing Christianity
‘Cluttered hearts’: Blaming pastors for their lost enthusiasm
In broken systems with flawed messages, group leaders would rather lay that blame anywhere but where it deserves to be.
Analyzing Christianity
‘Consumer Christianity’ is just another way for evangelicals to compete
I kept running into these heartfelt evangelical condemnations of consumer Christianity. Eventually, I couldn’t help myself. I had to learn more about yet another attempt by Christians to judge and out-Jesus their competition. Definitions can vary, and so can solutions to solve what many evangelicals view as a deep systemic Read more
Analyzing Christianity
The Cru ‘three modes of evangelism’ aren’t new
The other day, I ran across some interesting information about Cru (the former Campus Crusade for Christ), that long-running campus evangelism effort. They’re mighty proud of a three-prong approach to evangelism. They claim that this approach consistently, reliably converts people to their brand of evangelicalism. But it’s not new or Read more
Analyzing Christianity
The Southern Baptist Convention had its worst-ever membership drop in 2022
The 2023 Book of Reports speaks of a devastating membership drop, huge losses of member churches, and nowhere near enough bounceback in their baptism metrics.
From Patreon
The Jesus Fandom: Why Christians need so much advice for reigniting their lost passion
Lately, we’ve been talking about Christianity as a fandom. It certainly shares a great many characteristics with secular fandoms: Object(s) of devotion, ritualized behavior, participation in a niche culture, infighting both within the fans’ own particular groups and with other groups in the wider fandom as a whole, and more. Read more
From Patreon
Guessing why his religion is declining, a Christian clings to a beloved fantasy
A recent Medium piece about Christianity’s decline has been making the rounds on social media. In it, a Christian makes three assertions about his religion’s decline. Two are partially correct. But the last reflects a beloved but completely untrue myth that Christians almost universally embrace. Let’s examine each of these Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Evangelical parents focus on keeping children in their fandom for life
It’s not a new book, but that’s okay. Its advice hasn’t gotten old yet.
Analyzing Christianity
Christianity isn’t a relationship, but it is an intense fandom
The day I realized that Christianity is a super-intense fandom with extra strings attached, a lot of keys turned in a lot of mental locks for me. Ever since that magic moment, I haven’t been able to view exhortations to Christians about reigniting their Jesus-passion the same. I just can’t Read more