Evangelical Christianity is generally loquacious; Minnesota Swedes seldom are. My Swedish evangelical paternal grandparents talked little about their deeply held faith, and then only in sober tones.

Jesus Christ’s 2,000-year-old call to believers to love their enemies was vividly demonstrated Sunday when Erika Kirk publicly forgave her husband’s alleged killer before an audience of millions.

History is full of Christians trying to figure out if other Christians really experienced the saving work they say they did. When frontier evangelist “Raccoon” John Smith shared his testimony for the ...