Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

consumerism

Hymns vs. Choruses: Are the Worship Wars Worth Fighting?

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This article is based on a section from my book What’s So Confusing About Grace? In a 1960 interview on Meet the Press, Martin Luther King, Jr. famously observed, “It is one of the tragedies of our nation, one of the shameful tragedies, that 11 o’clock on Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours […]

Pew Sitting as Performance

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As a seminary professor I’m very adept at judging church performance: I’m at home formulating detailed critiques of the exegetical and homiletical quality of a preacher’s sermon and the relevance of the service’s liturgical form; I’m even happy to opine on the quality of the music … an area rather distant from my formal education. […]

The complex ethical problem of the Mega-Church

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The other day I had an interesting conversation with a friend who pastors a mid-sized church (approximately 400 congregants) in a major city in North America. I asked him about the impact that a new mega-church in that city has had on surrounding churches. By any conventional measure this church is a “success”. It has exploded from […]

Consumerism in its purest form

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I remember the moment as if it were yesterday. My daughter was three years old at the time and we’d decided to while away a long winter afternoon by taking her to Toys ‘R’ Us. As the sliding door opened before us and she walked into the store, her eyes opened wide. Overcome with desire […]

Should you risk your children getting malaria … or affluenza?

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In my most recent podcast, “Bringing the Gospel to the poorest nation on earth,” I interview Dr. Roger Chen, a missionary who works in Niger. Roger and his wife have two young children, and this prompted Ed Babinski to post the following comment: “When does missionary work also become child endangerment? It seems Dr. Chen […]

The death of the Christian bookstore

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When I was growing up we regularly visited our local Christian bookstore,  “Scriptural Supplies” (could you get a less commercially savvy name than that?!). I have a lot of good memories visiting the store and purchasing modest toys and “Christian candy” when I was young and books and music when I grew older. (While I preferred Van […]

71. Can the Church Be Saved? A conversation with Philip Kenneson

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Last year while on vacation in the United States my family visited a church. As we walked into the building we were greeted by a large sign welcoming the visitor with this simple but striking message: “You are awesome.” Wow, that’s a good start, right? We walked into the church and sat down in the sanctuary. People […]

“I got a Dyson”: Notes from the frontlines of Black Friday

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Consumerism in its purest formulation is not about acquiring particular material goods. Rather, it is about the act of acquiring itself. I saw a great illustration of this principle yesterday when I read an account of one woman’s experience at a Black Friday sale. According to the article in The Guardian, Louise Haggerty lined up at midnight hoping […]

Hi. You’re awesome.

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The other day I visited a church and was greeted at the entrance with this sign. “Hi. You’re Awesome.” I looked around surprised, but there was nobody else present at that moment, so I concluded the sign must mean me. My first thought was, “Gee, if I’m already awesome, why not sleep in Sunday morning […]