Battle of the *Baptist* Universities: Baylor vs. Wake Forest

So here's a short, somewhat shaky clip that I took with my digital camera from tonight's season opener at Floyd-Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas between Baylor University and Wake Forest University. The clip shows Baylor scoring their second and final touchdown of the evening. The Bears went on to lose to the Demon Deacons by a final score of 41-13.

Watch below and enjoy experiencing the losing tradition that is Baylor football.

Go Dawgs!

Does God Want Women To Stay Home?

That's the title of an op-ed in yesterday's USA Today.

And of course the piece is about Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's homemaking degree. Check it out.

'It isn't logical'

Seen in a biblical light, Southwestern's homemaking program is consistent with the Southern Baptist Convention's social and theological conservatism. But seen in that same light, the program is fraught with contradiction. For one thing, if women's role as nurturer and housekeeper is written into the divinely ordained scheme of things, why should something so very natural need to be taught to them? Shouldn't these skills be innate? And mightn't they best be taught in the context of the home, not the classroom?

Claire St. Amant, a senior at Baylor — the world's largest Baptist university, in Waco, Texas — nicely put her finger on the problem in The BaylorLariat, the student newspaper: "It isn't logical for someone with a master's of divinity to teach you how to make a bundt cake. ... I'd say the same thing if Emeril started teaching classes on systematic theology."

More vexing still, Jesus himself had some rather harsh words for the New Testament's most prominent — and unhappiest — housewife. In Luke's Gospel, Martha is busy serving and cleaning up after dinner, while her sister Mary has joined the disciples to hear the teaching. When Martha complains, Jesus rebukes her: "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her." Mary, in other words, has chosen the same path as Sheri Klouda did. Homemaking isn't everything it's cracked up to be. And it certainly isn't the only appropriate path for women.

This isn't to diminish the homemaker's importance — Martha gets to play a prominent role in the Gospel of John's story of the raising of Lazarus. And it must be noted that Southwestern's program is specifically geared toward "women whose heart and calling is the home." But surely the seminarians would be truer to women's biblical roots were they to recognize, as their savior did, that there is more than one career path open to women.

Baptist Theologian Blasts John Piper & Calvinism

In an op-ed published in the Baylor Lariat, Roger Olson, professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, takes on John Piper and Calvinism.

Olson definitely throws a few punches.....

A snippet below:

The God of Calvinism scares me; I'm not sure how to distinguish him from the devil. If you've come under the influence of Calvinism, think about its ramifications for the character of God. God is great but also good. In light of all the evil and innocent suffering in the world, he must have limited himself.

Read the rest here.