The above Infographic is from The Barna Group (@barnagroup). Click to enlarge.
He is risen! He is risen, indeed!
Doubting Thomas
The Crowing with Thorns
The Denial of St. Peter
Howard Hendricks, who taught at Dallas Theological Seminary (@DallasSeminary) for more than 60 years, died today at age 88, leaving behind a legacy of Bible lessons and Christian leaders across generations.
Read the Christianity Today article in full.
Hendricks authored 18 books and preached around the world in more than 80 countries. Through his teaching he influenced many Christian leaders; several count him as their mentor, including Chuck Swindoll, Tony Evans, Joseph Stowell and David Jeremiah.
See the article, The Life of Howard G. “Prof” Hendricks, in Profiles.
See the tribute website by Dallas Theological Seminary.
See the news release from the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove.
A new release from Barna Group (@barnagroup) (@davidkinnaman) ranks the most and least “Bible-minded” cities by looking at how people in those cities view the Bible.
The report, part of Barna:Cities, is based on 42,855 interviews conducted nationwide and the analysis of Bible trends was commissioned by American Bible Society (@americanbible). Individuals who report reading the Bible in a typical week and who strongly assert the Bible is accurate in the principles it teaches are considered to be Bible-minded. This definition captures action and attitude — those who both engage and esteem the Christian scriptures. The rankings thus reflect an overall openness or resistance to the Bible in the country’s largest markets.
The top ranking cities, where at least half of the population qualifies as Bible-minded, are all Southern:
· Knoxville, TN (52% of the population are Bible-minded)
· Shreveport, LA (52%)
· Chattanooga, TN (52%)
· Birmingham, AL (50%)
· Jackson, MS (50%).
The least Bible-oriented markets:
· Providence, RI (9%)
· Albany, NY (10%)
· Burlington, VT (16%)
· Portland, ME (16%)
· Hartford, CT (16%)
· Boston, MA (16%)
Also see our previous blogposts “Clear Majority of Americans Own A Bible,” “Infographic: Books of the Bible,” and “Christian Publishing and ‘Living the Experience of Scripture’”
In another Barna:Cities study, the US megachurch audience is measured, with the result being that only about 1 in 10 (10%) self-identified Christians attend a church with at least 1,000 attenders. Barna says, “While megachurches are a much-discussed trend, the vast majority of American Christians attend smaller churches.”
Cities with the highest concentration of megachurch attenders:
· Las Vegas, NV (29% of all Christians who live in the region attend a megachurch)
· Baton Rouge, LA (27%)
· Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL (21%)
· Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (19%)
· Houston, TX (19%)
Cities with the lowest concentration of megachurch attenders:
· Salt Lake City, UT (1%)
· Toledo, OH (1%)
· Madison, WI (1%)
Also see our blogposts, "Mississippi Is Most Religious USA State" and "Study: Religiously Active People More Likely to Engage in Civic Life."
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When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2:15-20 (NIV)
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:8-14 (NIV)
In her Op-Ed article in The New York Times (@nytopinion), Stanford (@Stanford) anthropology professor and author of When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship With God, T. M. Luhrmann raises some interesting points that apply to biblical fiction, Bible-based movies, and creative storytelling in sermons. She says:
Most evangelicals describe the Bible as literally true. Yet for many, “literally” often means “keep what’s there and add details to make it vivid.”
I am an anthropologist, and in recent years I have been exploring a kind of American evangelical Christianity that seeks to enable its followers to know God intimately. These evangelicals talk about the Bible as if it is literally true, but they also use their imagination to experience the Bible as personally as possible. They talk about getting to know God by having coffee with God, or asking God what shirt they should wear in the morning. A man from Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego told me that “the Bible is a love story, and it is written to me.” It is a style of evangelical Christianity with many followers: perhaps a quarter of all Americans....
I am no theologian and I do not think that social science can weigh in on the question of who God is or whether God is real. But I think that anthropology offers some insight into why imaginatively enriching a text taken as literally true helps some Christians to hang on to God when they are surrounded by a secular world.
First, this way of knowing God involves what social scientists would call “active learning.”.... Second, these practices make the experience of God personally specific....
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“You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7 (The Message) (@themessage)
Happy Thanksgiving!