The emergence of the megachurch as a model of metropolitan ministry is one of the defining marks of evangelical Christianity in the United States. Megachurches — huge congregations that attract thousands of worshipers — arrived on the scene in the 1970s and quickly became engines of ministry development and energy.

Can a true Christian deny the virgin birth? This question would perplex
the vast majority of Christians throughout the centuries, but modern
denials of biblical truth make the question tragically significant. Of
all biblical doctrines, the doctrine of Christ’s virginal conception
has often been the specific target of modern denial and attack.

“I do not, by nature, thrive on confrontation,” declares Richard
Dawkins, the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of
Science at Oxford University and one of the world’s leading skeptics
concerning Christianity and belief in God. Dawkins is well known as an intellectual adversary to all forms of
religious belief–and of Christianity in particular. He is one of the
world’s most prolific scientists, writing books for a popular audience
and addressing his strident worldview of evolutionary theory to an
expanding audience. Put simply, Richard Dawkins aspires to be the
“devil’s chaplain” of Darwinian evolution.

Summer is supposed to be a season of rest and relaxation — at least in theory. As one wit remarked, “A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.” Fair enough. But even on less promising summer days there may be an opportunity for reading books for sheer pleasure and enjoyment. Several readers have asked for a list of books profitable for summer reading, and so I offer the following list of more recent titles, drawn from the nonfiction category.

Some lessons are learned the hard way. The stewardship of those lessons seems especially important. The significant learning I have experienced started with an illness that eventually required major surgery. But that was only the start of the process. These are among the lessons I learned in the midst of this crisis. I wanted to write them down while they are fresh. There is far more to say, but this is a start. God has given me a new chance, armed with lessons I otherwise would have missed. What can we call this but a gift?

Can a true Christian deny the virgin birth? This question would perplex the vast majority of Christians throughout the centuries, but modern denials of biblical truth make the question tragically significant. Of all biblical doctrines, the doctrine of Christ’s virginal conception has often been the specific target of modern denial and attack.

In a 2003 New York Times op-ed piece, Nicholas Kristof argued that no intellectually credible person could believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. The fact that so many Americans do believe that, he said, is evidence of the great divide between Europe and America–a divide he characterizes as between the “intellectual” and the “religious.”

In one of his columns for The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof once pointed to belief in the Virgin Birth as evidence that conservative Christians are “less intellectual.” Are we saddled with an untenable doctrine? Is belief in the Virgin Birth really necessary?