Remembering an All-But-Forgotten, Extremely Influential Theologian: Christoph Blumhardt Much to their credit, a few historical theologians are trying to revive memory of German theologian-evangelist Christoph Blumhardt. My friend and co-author Christian Collins Winn (Bethel College, MN) is one of them. (He and I collaborated on our recently published book Reclaiming Pietism: Retrieving an Evangelical Tradition [Eerdmans, 2015].) In my opinion, however, Blumhardt is one of those great Christian thinkers and leaders who has been pushed to the deep background and... Read more

My Visit to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (March 26, 2015) Several weeks ago I received a nice letter from President Paige Patterson of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas—the largest seminary in the world. (It is one of six seminaries officially affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.) The letter expressed appreciation for some of my writings. Dr. Patterson also expressed a desire to meet me sometime, so I responded cordially and said I would be happy to come... Read more

C. S. Lewis Said It: God’s “Goodness” Cannot Be Wholly Other For years now I have been insisting that the main reason I am not a Calvinist (or any kind of divine determinist) is that, taken to its “good and necessary consequences,” Calvinism makes God morally monstrous. I fully realize and understand that many Calvinists do not see this and disagree. Of course they do. In my opinion, most simply close their eyes to the fact that if God creates... Read more

Why Are We (In the U.S.A.) Headed toward a Police State?   Some time ago here I suggested that the U.S., a society that promotes itself as the “land of the free,” is headed gradually but discernably toward becoming a police state. All one has to do to discern the validity of this concern is pay attention to the news. Some police, prosecutors and judges, to say nothing of federal agencies, seem able to act outside the spirit of the... Read more

What Is the “Image of God” in the Human? A Place for Christians to Begin Thinking about the “Transhuman” In my most recent post here I raised ethical questions about the idea of “transhumanity” or “posthumanity”—technology being used to transcend normal humanity into “humanity plus.” So far as I can tell there are no examples of this yet; only ideas that seem possible to some people given the tremendous technological enhancements created and offered to persons with physical disabilities and... Read more

“Transhumanism” and Ethics: An Invitation to Discussion of a Cultural “Cutting Edge” Increasingly one reads about “transhumanism”—a broad and diverse movement to promote the fundamental transformation of humanity individually or collectively through technology. Transhumanism is not merely the promotion of human physical and mental enhancement but transformation. In other words, via technology, it is hoped, the human will evolve into a new life form with abilities not afforded by biology or current technology. This new life form will be “transhuman”—more... Read more

All last week (March 9-13, 2015) I was in Bellingham, Washington video taping two courses on historical theology for the MobileEd division of FaithLife–the new name of Logos Software. I’m not sure when the courses will be available for purchase, but eventually anyone will be able to watch them and interact with the lectures via links embedded in the texts (for a fee, of course). The FaithLife folks were extremely hospitable to me and I thank them for all their help... Read more

Somewhere Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) wrote that “Your job is not to fit in but to standout.” One could debate the veracity and usefulness (or not) of that statement all day. I’d say it’s wrong and unhelpful insofar as it is taken as a motto for extreme individualism. However, if it means a person should not regard herself as merely part of the “crowd” but seek to excel it’s true. So much depends on how it’s interpreted. I don’t know... Read more

I was recently asked by a student whether there are any important Christian doctrines, beliefs all Christians should embrace and confess, that can be found and supported ONLY in and by the Old Testament. He was not asking about nuggets of spiritual wisdom, inspiring verses, historical events, etc. He was asking me whether there are doctrines to be believed and confessed by all Christians that cannot be found only in and supported by the New Testament but that we must... Read more

Can “Authentic Christianity” Be Found Today? Like many Christians I grew up in a church that was committed to restoring the “New Testament church”—as it was in the first century. This impulse is called “restorationism.” (I only capitalize that term when referring to a particular tradition known to scholars as “Restorationism” whose main contemporary offshoots are the Churches of Christ, Independent Christian Churches, and the Disciples of Christ. Except, of course, when the term is first in a sentence.) Restorationism... Read more