Did Jonathan Edwards Undermine Calvinism? Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the greatest Puritan theologian and a passionate Calvinist, “speaks today” through Calvinist leaders like John Piper even though he has been dead for hundreds of years. Edwards was born in Massachusetts in 1703 (the same year John Wesley was born in England) and died in New Jersey in 1758—just after becoming president of the College of New Jersey now known as Princeton University. He died tragically from a smallpox vaccination. Anyone who... Read more

On Not Making a Religion of Politics My observation is that many Americans are making a religion out of politics. That is, they are putting into political activism, even if only on social media, the passion that should be reserved for religion. To be even clearer and more specific, for many people, many Christians included, what Paul Tillich called “ultimate concern” is being invested in political commitments and endeavors. This is a kind of idolatry. Again, to paraphrase Tillich, only... Read more

My Deep Disappointment with Franklin Graham According to news reports, after the vote by the House of Representatives to impeach Trump, evangelical leader Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, compared the Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach to Judas, betrayer of Christ. I am not alone among evangelicals when I criticize Graham for this. First, on a practical note, comparing those ten Republican members of Congress with Christ-betrayers contributes to the danger they find themselves in. Most of... Read more

What Is “The Church?” Of course this question—What Is the Church?—is far too “big” for a blog essay to answer. Here is why I am asking this question now, in this forum, and attempting to answer it—however partially. Over the past few years I have heard and read many people publicly referring to “the American church” or “the Baptist church” or “the evangelical church.” These are misuses of the word “church.” I think journalists are especially guilty of this misuse... Read more

Is “Liberal Christianity” Authentic Christianity? A few weeks ago I invited you to join me in reading A Theology for the Twenty-first Century by theologian Douglas Ottati (Eerdmans, 2020). I don’t know how many, if any, took up my invitation, but I plunged on perhaps alone and finished the 749 page volume today. Why? Because it’s there. For me, reading a massive theological tome of this quality and substance is like others climbing Mount Everest. It’s there and calls and... Read more

A Church Father Senator Hawley and His Mentors Should Read Recently I commented here about U.S Senator Joshua Hawley’s misuse of fifth century heretic Pelagius. The attempt to draw a line of influence from him to today’s social decadence in America is just wrong. But here is who Hawley and his mentors (I think I know some of them but I will refrain from naming them) ought to read: Saint Augustine’s magnum opus The City of God. Why? Augustine was... Read more

False Right-wing Political Appeal to the Ancient Christian Heretic Pelagius All too frequently, conservative Christians attempt to connect dots that cannot fairly be connected. They attempt to draw lines from something awful today back to something awful in the past. Why? Well, in most cases it’s sheer demagoguery and one is tempted to suspect they know better because the dots are so far apart that no line really can connect them. Consider, for example the infamous Youtube video in which... Read more

Guest Essay: Is America Suffering from Moral Injury? Ted Peters (American Lutheran Theologian) During the storming of the Capitol on Epiphany, January 6, 2021, one QAnon activist, Ashli Babbitt, was shot to death by police. She had tweeted the day prior to the assault, “It’s all I dream about and pray for! What is dark will come to light!” (QAA Podcast) Ms. Babbit died as a martyr to the light of truth. QAnon’s conspiracy theory regarding an anti-Trump deep state... Read more

Social Hysteria: A Suggested Explanation of a Common Phenomenon *Note: I wrote this before the insurrection of January 6, 2021* I am neither a sociologist nor a psychologist, let alone a social psychologist. So, there, that’s out of the way. What I propose here is an amateur explanation of a phenomenon anyone familiar with social history knows about. An otherwise relatively peaceful and functioning society—whether a nation-state, empire, religious organization, or business—suddenly falls into a dysfunctional condition marked by hysterical... Read more

Free Will or Not? Another Round in the Debate I promised Arminian theologian Robert E. Picirilli (Free Will Baptist) that I would review his book Free Will Revisited: A Respectful Response to Luther, Calvin, and Edwards (Wipf & Stock, 2017) on my blog. This, however, is more than a review; it is an interaction with some of the main ideas of the book but also my own “musings” about free will. Picirilli’s book is 140 pages long and well worth... Read more