Have you heard of the documentary in the works “Jesus, Don’t Let Me Die Before I’ve Had Sex”? I think this is an extremely important topic, and a provocative project. It seeks to discuss three questions What were your experiences surounding sex in the church  (if you are a minister like me) What do you teach about sex? How did the church get to where it is today regarding sex? (a little history and such) How would YOU answer... Read more

A few days ago I posted a video which I called “Possibly the Best Use of Social Media I have Ever Seen.” I watched the video, I believed that their use of media was commendable and I thought it was worthwhile to share what they were doing. Since then there has been some controversy surrounding the organization that produced the video called “Invisible Children”. The controversy has revolved around the fact that some people don’t believe enough of the IC... Read more

No conversation on the theology of the Early Church on the Cross would be complete without an examination of the writings of Athanasius. This theological giant wrote a generation before Augustine and was, in part, responsible for Augustine’s own conversion. Athanasius’ book On the Incarnation was written as a tome in favor of traditional understandings of the person of Jesus and His work on the cross in the face or a rising tide of Arianism that was on the verge... Read more

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo. Read more

If Origen’s central concern was God’s desire to unify man to Himself, Augustine’s central concern was God’s love for humanity. We have already looked at the many and varied images that are employed by Augustine as he sought to show how the cross was used by God in Christ to accomplish the redemptive work of salvation. It is now necessary to turn our attention to the underlying theology that guided all of these images. Augustine’s theology seemed to have developed... Read more

As you read through the various perspective on the theology of the Cross in among the Church Fathers there are a number of things that may stick out to the attentive reader. Fist you may notice that there is little to no discussion about salvation that surrounds what has come to be the central understanding of salvation among many Christians today, which sees Jesus as vicarious satisfaction of God’s wrath. Jesus is not seen as taking on a penalty for... Read more

Destiny is a strange concept.  In all of this there is a deep sense in the hearts of many people that there is such a thing as destiny, and people have a role to play in it. However most of us find our way into our place naturally. We adapt to the world around us and accept that our sitz im leben is not something we should seek to alter. There are, however, some people who choose to kick against... Read more

Alright so there is a conversation going on at r/christianity about Tattoos… A number of years ago I got a few tattoos to express my faith. I thought I would post a few pictures and explain why I got each one.  The CHI RHO – I love this symbol it is composed of the first two letters in Greek of the word for Chris. Χριστός It’s a translation of the hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ which means “anointed one”  It’s on the... Read more

One of the most influential thinkers in the early church was Origen. Although later condemned for some of his more platonic theology, Origen was immensely popular in his own time. Origen was the first Christian writer to try to wrestle through the theology of the sacrifice on the cross in a philosophically coherent way. He asked how can the Christ as Logos of God be correctly and convincingly understood understood as possessing saving power?[1]  As a man deeply influenced by Plato... Read more

The Christian church followed many of the Greeks in an shift away from the need to offer sacrifices as a way of pleasing God, although they did it for very different reasons. The early church believed that in light of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross sacrifice was no longer necessary. Jesus had made a sacrifice once and for all and stood in the place of a priest for all the church through all of time. When Christians talked... Read more