I've gotten several posts asking about the CrossTalk podcast. It's on hiatus. It took much more time than I expected to produce a 5 min broadcast. I'm re-thinking the format. When I get it figured out you'll be the first to know.

Some have written to say that they can only see three of the five podcasts on the site. I can't help with that. I don't know why that is. I use Firefox and Safari and the CrossTalk page looks fine to me. This site does not show up well in Internet Explorer. Imagine that, a Microsoft product that doesn't work! Who knew?  Dear Mr. Gates, that was a joke. If you're going to retaliate, I live in Moscow, ID and my real name is Doug Wilson.

CrossTalk Vol 5 is online.

Volume 3 of CrossTalk is now online on the CrossTalk Podcast page.

The broadcast is here.

The current evangelical fad is the "emerging" or "emergent" church. This is a movement that is unhappy with modern evangelicalism and fundamentalism and they are looking to the past for answers, but in so doing they seem to have skipped the Reformation.

In some ways the the emerging movement is another evangelical fad. Ten years ago it was fashionable to become Greek Orthodox. Before that it was fashionable to become Anglican and there have been some notable evangelicals converts to Roman Catholicism in this same period.

Why aren’t evangelicals on the road to Geneva, Westminster, or Heidelberg. why do they seem to skip the Reformation? in fact, not all of them are. Christianity Today just did a story on that very phenomenon. But many more evangelicals seem to be booking metaphorical flights from Bob Jones, Dallas, Moody to Rome and Constantinople. Why the evangelical reluctance to investigate the Reformation? three reasons:

For one, there are significant ways in which Rome and Constantinople or the emerging church are quite like contemporary evangelicalism. In some ways it’s a natural step.

Second, the Reformed movement has not always been very friendly. As a movement devoted to a set of strongly-held principles we tend to attract folks who are more interested in ideas than people. That can make for some awkward conversations.

Third, I think that a lot of evangelicals are ex-fundamentalists and they just assume that Reformed theology, piety, and practice is another branch of joy-killing, soul-darkening fundamentalism. Brian McLaren certainly writes as if he knows all about "being" Reformed and has rejected it, yet his first book anyway shows precious little familiarity with real Reformed theology, piety, and practice.

There is an alternative, however. If you are an evangelical curious about the Reformation, I think if you give it a chance, you might like it. as we confess the faith, it is organized by the Father’s grace toward sinners, Christ’s finished work for sinners, and the Spirit’s work within sinners. it offers a vision for faith and life that has something to say about all of life. it also has a strong view of the church, Christian community, and the means of grace – and isn’t that what the emerging folks say they’re looking for?

rsc