Anglican theologian and New Testament scholar N.T. Wright notes this fact: “By the end of the second century, Roman officials were not particularly aware of the nuances of Christian teaching, but they did know what the word ‘bishop’ meant—it meant someone who kept on agitating about the needs of the poor.” Because we live 2000 years downstream from the time of Christ (A.D.), we often just assume the world we grew up in has always been pretty much this way.... Read more
If you grew up in the evangelical/fundamentalist world of the 70s, 80s, or 90s, and lived with a somewhat constant fear of being “left-behind” and missing the “rapture,” you can probably thank Hal Lindsey for that existential dread and anxiety. Mr. Lindsey, God rest his soul, has left (the one and only true rapture) this “late, great, planet earth,” and now finds himself enraptured as he beholds glory. I do not wish to speak ill of the dead. I’m confident... Read more
The upcoming election is not primarily a choice between a democrat and a republican, a political party in general, or a liberal and a conservative. Throw those categories, those binaries, out the window. They no longer apply in any significant sense and if they do apply or have some meaning, it’s only in a peripheral token, image, sort of way. With the rise of Trump and MAGA movement, those old descriptors no longer apply. Trump has laid waste to those... Read more
This just in—read all about it: Notorious con-man, person of questionable character, honesty, ethics, and integrity, a person with zero loyalty to others has conned another large group of gullible people willing to get into bed with him politically. Shocking, right? Who knew? How could anyone have seen this coming? It’s out of the blue; it’s just a blind side hit, right? There were no warning signs, right? There was just no way to think this might happen, right? Wrong.... Read more
Since the attempted assassination of former President Trump, there has been much talk of God’s “providence” and “sovereign” will. It’s at times like this when one realizes that many people just regurgitate what they learned in seminary, college, or from some pastor somewhere. As I’ve listened to recent sermons and read some of the things posted on social media or media in general, one gets the clear sense many of these people have not thought things through. For those claiming... Read more
In the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 8, we read of Israel’s cry for a king. Perhaps this is a continual temptation for God’s people, one that will hound us until Jesus returns and heaven comes to earth. Maybe it cycles about at opportune times. If so, we are in one of those times as it pertains to evangelicals and their attraction, even devotion, to Trump. You know the guy, that lover of money, the serial adulterer, thrice-married, five-timed bankrupted,... Read more
Unless one has been living under a rock (a mercy for sure right now), they are aware of the story regarding South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and her new book, wherein she proudly recounts shooting her young dog, “Cricket.” And, not only Cricket, but a goat and some horses too. I spent my young years living on a rural feedlot surrounded by farmland in California’s great Central Valley. We had dogs, cats, horses, cows, and so did many of the... Read more
I have two primary conceptions of the secular in the sense of a space. First, following John Milbank, I think it to be entirely fancied. Ontologically, in a core sense, there is no secular—it doesn’t exist. It had to be imagined. If one is a Christian or believes in the gods of the philosophers/major religions, then they know that God/or ground of all being—is the one, “who is in all places and fills all things.” To believe there is a... Read more
We knew Trump had an authoritarian bent when he first ran for the presidency and from his first four years in office. Each year he was there it became more and more evident. I think it was, partly, simply due to his ignorance and not understanding how our government works, our history, the three parts of our system (executive, legislative, judicial) and so on. Further, he never understood what it meant to be a what they used to call a... Read more
Not only are religious leaders/pastors/theologians learning they are losing members, especially young people, along comes new polling revealing this finding: “Among those who plan to vote for Trump, 71% feel that what he tells them is true — higher than the results for friends and family (63%), conservative media figures (56%) or religious leaders (42%).” With those findings in mind, note this stark fact: Trump is a pathological, serial liar. Even some of his most well known cheerleaders know that.... Read more
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