6. Critics respond to dialogue between evangelicals and Muslims.

A select group of evangelical leaders signed a November 2007 response to the Muslims who wrote "A Common Word Between Us and You." But the debate really heated up in 2008 with critical analysis from Al Mohler and John Piper, among others. In February, Wheaton College president Duane Litfin and two other school administrators withdrew their signatures. When he reread the statement, Litfin said it was not "carefully enough crafted to avoid encouraging that basic premise of civil religion, i.e., that we are all worshiping the same God, climbing the same mountain, just taking different paths."

7. Leading evangelicals issue a "manifesto."

Election-year statements about evangelical identity and political engagement are sure to attract attention. "An Evangelical Manifesto," spearheaded by Os Guinness, takes a stab at defining evangelicalism before lamenting how Americans have come to see these conservative Christians primarily in political terms. Mainstream media apparently didn't understand the intent, as they scoured the document for political implications.

8. Evangelical Free Church of America revises its statement of faith.

This relatively small denomination remains unknown to many Americans. But it extends its reach through an influential seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. New professors must sign a revised statement of faith, which introduced language to clarify the denomination's positions on a number of hot debates, including the atonement, open theism, justification, and inerrancy.

9. Roman Catholic bishops revisit inerrancy compromise reached at Vatican II.

Evangelicals tuned in to see what Pope Benedict XVI and the Synod of Bishops would say about "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." The synod's recommendations echoed the pope's concern to rein in biblical criticism that assumes a "secularist, positivist" hermeneutic. But the pope reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's view that the Bible should be interpreted alongside Church tradition.

10. Northwestern College faculty and staff struggle over school's direction.

Some well-respected faculty members and former trustees allege that President Alan Cureton and other leaders are steering the St. Paul school away from its theological heritage. "Our 'key' concerns … are simply not complementarianism and premillennialism, but the centrality of biblical truth and doctrinal integrity," said Paul Helseth, associate professor of Christian thought. Debates at this conservative school echo the recent struggles over postmodernism among faculty at Cedarville University.