Immigration: An Old, Old Challenge

Not News: Conservative Churches Are Growing One problem with living three score and four years is reading stories that I could have sworn I had read before. Decades before. Like this one: "New Study: 'Conservative' Churches with a Literal Interpretation of the Bible Are Growing." I thought this point was made in 1972, with the publication of the groundbreaking book by legal scholar Dean Kelley, Why Conservative Churches Are Growing. But one reader's history is another reader's news. I note this article in part to make this observation: Many assume that because a church is growing, it must be doing something right in the eyes of God, who has apparently seen fit to bless it. It's no secret that, given the spectrum of American theology, I'm theologically conservative, so I am fundamentally grateful that theologically conservative churches are growing. Still, conservative churches should think twice before assuming that growth testifies to their righteousness. It doesn't take a theologian to realize that some churches (conservative or liberal) are popular precisely because they ignore the harder edges of the gospel.

A Theologian You Should Have Known Speaking of conservative theology, I'd encourage you to note the passing of Thomas Oden. He was not a household name by any means, but he was "one of the most consequential evangelical scholars and theologians of our time." That's the estimate of Timothy George among many others. Oden had been thoroughly catechized in liberal Christianity when the great Jewish scholar Will Herberg scolded him. As Oden later put it, "Holding one finger up, looking straight at me with fury in his eyes, [Herberg] said, 'You will remain theologically uneducated until you study carefully Athanasius, Augustine, and Aquinas.'" That began a journey to the orthodox center of Christian faith, outlined in his "conversion story," Agenda for Theology . It was a theology he championed the rest of his days, in part at Christianity Today, where he served as a theological adviser for many years.

Immigration: An Old, Old Challenge The United States has, of course, had many waves of immigrants, and we have tried a number of ways to welcome/exclude/integrate them. I always find it helpful to try to put a current issue into historical context, and this week's long read does that well. The author makes some unfortunate partisan slams toward the end, but I nonetheless found the history interesting.

No More Checkout Lines? Okay, I'm really conflicted about this: "Amazon just opened a grocery store without a checkout line." On the one hand, who wouldn't like to avoid checkout lines? On the other hand, my father was a lifelong grocery clerk, and my first job was as a bag boy. What happens to all those workers if this actually works? Still, the geek side of me says, "Wow, that's cool."

Grace and peace,

Mark Galli Editor, Christianity Today