Jesus Creed
Rick Brannon, a bibliophile, has blogged the first brief review of Jesus and His Death. I posted it at my Jesus and His Death blog, and point you there. Read more
Rick Brannon, a bibliophile, has blogged the first brief review of Jesus and His Death. I posted it at my Jesus and His Death blog, and point you there. Read more
There is a reason, perhaps less in importance but perhaps just as insidious, why Christian communities of faith need to stop in their tracks and post a new life-sign about the end of racism in the Church. That reason is the growing, venomous, and potentially culture-crushing development in the USA of White Nationalism. Perhaps you don’t know about it, and I confess I didn’t until I read Vanderbilt University’s Law School professor, Carol M. Swain’s book, The New White Nationalism... Read more
I have been asked to comment on the book with my name on it called The Story of the Christ. The book was commissioned in England with T&T Clark/Continuum, and recently picked up by Baker Books in the USA. Hence, there are two publication dates. It is a short “introduction” to the life of Jesus, where about half the book is my “introduction” and the rest a continuous narrative of the Gospel texts. Here’s the tack I took: What would... Read more
I thought I’d post today on the need for repentance and forgiveness, but instead I want to posit another way of looking at our problem — and it is a problem for whole Church. My contention is that the gospel comes to create the order designed by God — a kingdom order, an ecclesial order, a practicing Pentecost order. The gospel is more than the resolution of judicial bankruptcy, though it is that. It is designed to restore Eikons to... Read more
Fighting racism isn’t a tack-on to what happens “after I believe,” but an issue wrapped up in the gospel grace of God we embrace when we embrace Jesus Christ and his kingdom vision. How often do we make distinctions between “faith in Christ” for redemption and “discipleship” for sanctification? or what we embrace for salvation and what we choose to do as a part of following Christ? As if the two are separable realms. This is hooey, I say. In... Read more
Fighting racism isn’t a tack-on to what happens “after I believe,” but an issue wrapped up in the gospel grace of God we embrace when we embrace Jesus Christ and his kingdom vision. How often do we make distinctions between “faith in Christ” for redemption and “discipleship” for sanctification? or what we embrace for salvation and what we choose to do as a part of following Christ? As if the two are separable realms. This is hooey, I say. In... Read more
Let us define racism as an ideology of superiority in which a person, due to a biological or physiological or cultural condition, which are tagged as inherent to the person, is systemically considered inferior, leading both to ideas and policies of exclusion. Thus, as is found in Emerson and Smith’s influential book, Divided by Faith, “a racialized society is a society wherein race matters profoundly for differences in life experiences, life opportunities, and social relationships” (7). In the USA, they... Read more
Let us define racism as an ideology of superiority in which a person, due to a biological or physiological or cultural condition, which are tagged as inherent to the person, is systemically considered inferior, leading both to ideas and policies of exclusion. Thus, as is found in Emerson and Smith’s influential book, Divided by Faith, “a racialized society is a society wherein race matters profoundly for differences in life experiences, life opportunities, and social relationships” (7). In the USA, they... Read more
If you embrace a kingdom vision of the gospel itself, racism is nothing short of disgusting. If you embrace a judicial perception of sin, the Cross, and the gospel, racism is more tolerable. I’m sorry to put in such bold terms, but it all comes down to how you understand the gospel. I am not an expert on the topic of racism, nor am I a paragon of a colorless and a raceless (not the same thing) perception of our... Read more
This is our last post on Franke’s book, The Character of Theology. Here’s my overall assessment: The book exposes themes that penetrate deeply into the fabric of doing theology and deserves to be read, especially by students who have teachers who disagree with Franke. Some kind of endorsement, I know, but Franke puts on the tables so many issues that simply have to be discussed, and are frequently simply ignored. Not fair to students. |inline Read more
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