Theological lessons appear in the most unexpected places. The February 12, 2012 edition of The New York Times included an obituary for Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut, who died February 8 in Toronto at age 99.

Though this may surprise some readers, liberal and conservative economists often agree on the nature of the problems posed by various economic practices, even as they vigorously disagree about the solutions to those problems.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down one of the most important decisions on religious liberty in recent decades. For the first time, the Court held that there is indeed a ministerial exemption that allows churches and religious organizations to discriminate in ways that other employers cannot. The Court’s decision was unanimous, and the affirmation of religious liberty and the right of churches to hire religious teachers without state interference is fundamentally important.

The easiest way to infuriate the young is to lean into nostalgia. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to be nostalgic for a childhood in which the basic equipment for elementary school was pretty much limited to notebooks, pencils, and an occasional ruler. Those days are long gone.

This letter to The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce College community was released in the wake of the tragedy and scandal at Penn State University, and in honor of all those who have experienced such abuse.

Would you attend a same-sex wedding ceremony? That question was posed recently to Houston pastor Joel Osteen, and Osteen said that he would attend, if the wedding involved friends. This came just after Osteen indicated that he could not perform a same-sex marriage ceremony, since he believes that homosexuality is a sin.

My column at CNN.com, “Are Evangelicals Dangerous?,” was posted there on Sunday’s front page. By mid-Monday, there were 75 pages of comments at the site. That tells us something about the volatility of the question.

Should Christian pastors preside at marriage ceremonies for cohabitating couples? That is not just a theoretical question — it is a pastoral dilemma faced by almost every pastor. Given the rising rates of cohabitation, this question will only grow more pressing.

The death of Steve Jobs, founder and iconic leader of Apple, is a signal moment in the lives of the “Digital Generation,” which Jobs, along with a very few other creative geniuses, made possible. Few individuals of any historical epoch can claim to have changed the way so many people live their lives, do their work, and engage the products of the culture.

On September 11, 2011 — the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States, I preached the following message at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky [East Campus]. The message, “Terror Revisited: Truth Revealed,” looks to John 16 and the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

On Thursday, September 8, 2011, I was joined by Russell Moore, Zane Pratt, and Heath Lambert for a public discussion of the theological lessons of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. The video of the event is made available here, in hopes that the discussion will be of help to others attempting to put these events in theological perspective.

This is the video of my Opening Convocation address delivered Tuesday, August 23, 2011 in Alumni Chapel at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “Little Children, Keep Yourselves from Idols” is taken from 1 John 5:21.