I had the privilege of preaching in chapel at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on November 6.  I preached a message entitled, “How Not to Raise a Pagan,” drawn from Deuteronomy 6.  The audio and video are now available here.  It was a great privilege to preach to the seminary community at Southeastern, where my great friend Danny Akin is president.

ABC’s World News Tonight broadcast a segment from the campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on Sunday night, September 28, 2008.  The issue was the roles of men and women in church and in society — the issues raised by some in the wake of the nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as Sen. John McCain’s running mate.  I appeared on the program, along with SBTS students Phillip Bethancourt, Courtney Tarter, and Toby Jennings.

Social change is a constant in civilization.  New technologies, human migrations, climate changes, and any number of demographic and worldview shifts prompt changes in the way humans live and maintain civilization’s patterns and structures.  For the most part, these changes unfold slowly.  Now, however, we are witnessing social change unwind at warp speed.

The European Parliament evidently has too much time on its hands.  Last week, this glorious and august legislative body voted to warn advertisers and marketers against “sexual stereotyping.”  Seriously.

Labor Day 2008 came with a bang as Hurricane Gustav plowed into the Gulf Coast and as the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain revealed that the daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is five months pregnant, and yet unmarried.  The word spread quickly, even as Americans celebrated their end-of-summer holiday with an unusual attentiveness to the news.

Labor Day 2008 came with a bang as Hurricane Gustav plowed into the Gulf Coast and as the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain revealed that the daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is five months pregnant, and yet unmarried.  The word spread quickly, even as Americans celebrated their end-of-summer holiday with an unusual attentiveness to the news.

Ellen Goodman is an institution at the Boston Globe and one of the nation’s most recognized liberal columnists. She has a keen eye for detail, which often makes her columns interesting, and she is an unreconstructed liberal and feminist, undoubtedly shaped by her education in the 1960s at Radcliffe College and her personal experiences.