Hippie Heretic

The Importance of Jesus as Our Only Foundation

December 13, 2015 By Chuck McKnight

This past Friday, I visited a thrift store and picked up a book called If Grace Is True: Why God Will Save Every Person, which I then devoured over the next day and a half. It’s coauthored by two Quaker pastors, and as the subtitle implies, it seeks to defend the view of universal reconciliation or universalism—the idea that God never rescinds his offer of forgiveness, that he continues seeking the lost even after death, and that all will eventually… Read more

Blogging through Matthew: Introduction

December 9, 2015 By Chuck McKnight

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Over the next few months (or for as long as it takes) I’m going to blog all the way through the book of Matthew. This won’t be a verse-by-verse commentary so much as a section-by-section exploration, in which I’ll pick out anything that seems to be of particular interest or importance. Why? Matthew is the first book of the New Testament according to most canons, making it a natural place to start. But more importantly, it contains Jesus’ “Sermon on… Read more

On the Athanasian Theology of Wesley’s Incarnation Hymn

December 7, 2015 By Chuck McKnight

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It’s that time of year again. We’re once more officially allowed to sing about our Savior’s birth. I won’t dwell on how much I detest the divorcing of so-called “Christmas carols” from the rest of hymnody. I’ll just say that I believe we should preach the incarnation of the Word, both in season and out of season, using music along with every other method. But for now, I’m going to focus on one of my favorite incarnation hymns, “Hark How… Read more

How to (Actually) Spot a Theological Liberal

December 3, 2015 By Chuck McKnight

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I came across this comic from Adam4d.com. Cute. But not exactly accurate. So I fixed it. Enjoy! Read more

My 7 Blogging Promises

December 2, 2015 By Chuck McKnight

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A little over three years ago (when I first started blogging) I made seven promises to the readers of my blog. Looking back, I can see how true those promises have turned out to be, particularly numbers one through three. Since I’ve now moved on to a new blog, reflecting some of my changing beliefs, I think it wise to reaffirm these seven blogging promises. I promise that I do not know everything.I promise that I will be wrong about… Read more

What Defines a Heretic? Am I One?

December 1, 2015 By Chuck McKnight

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Biblical definition Biblically speaking, the word heretic comes from the Greek hairetikon, meaning “divisive” (Titus 3:10). A heretic is one who purposes to create disunity, fragmenting the church. In this sense, I am not a heretic. My heart’s desire is to see the church fully united once more. This is one of the key driving factors that motivates everything I do. I hate disunity with a passion. Though I align myself most closely with the Anabaptists, I do so with… Read more

Introducing My New Blog: Hippie Heretic

November 30, 2015 By Chuck McKnight

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Why choose the name Hippie Heretic? In a sense, others chose the name for me. When you preach the peace and love of a non-violent God—a God who is perfectly revealed in Jesus—you end up rustling the feathers of certain conservative types. Hippie and heretic are two of their favorite names to throw my way. So why not just embrace that? After all, Christian, Anabaptist, Methodist, and a host of other such identifiers were originally intended to be pejorative as… Read more