The Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III, who has led a Black megachurch in Dallas for 40 years, has just been chosen to take the place of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition for more than five decades.
I read, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” I did not need any prior church or explanation to tell me that this sentence meant something extraordinary: the foundation of all meaning-making was in the beginning … and it “became flesh and dwelt among us”… and this was Jesus.
The sprinkling-style baptism of a Dayton, Ohio, infant — a scene heartwarming and commonplace for Catholics and mainline Protestants — is touching off accusations of doctrinal heresy in the evangelical world.
The dispute over dropping a beloved Christian song from a new Presbyterian hymnal has widened into a multi-denominational tussle, with Baptists joining the fray.
At issue are various Christian doctrines of the atonement, which attempt to explain why Jesus died and whether his death satisfies God’s wrath over humankind’s sinfulness.