Lent. The beginning of Jesus’ dance with the Devil, “the Tempter,” out in the wilderness. A high holy day leading into a high holy season. Bearing the mark of ashes, remembering the solemn promise of dust to dust. Sacrificing as Jesus did while he was led into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. Right? I haven’t fasted for spiritual reasons since my teens. When I would fast it would be a particular food like chocolate, sometimes TV, or ‘secular’... Read more
What is the real question at the heart of the Asbury Revival? A few weeks ago I opened up Facebook to find a long post by a former professor of mine from Bible College. She is also a revivals scholar in the Assemblies of God tradition. She wrote extensively on what she called the Asbury Revival happening on the Asbury campus. She compared it to two previous ‘revivals’ at Asbury and spoke on revivals in general. As someone who spent... Read more
Guest post by my friend and colleague who prefers the pseudonym BK. Queen Elizabeth has died. Certainly a shock to the world, despite her age of 96 years old. And as the world will be abuzz with mourning and protest alike, this can and should be a time for honest conversations. The queen is dead. Colonization is not. In the face of the monarch Queen Elizabeth passing perhaps we can rip ourselves away from the algorithms that tout her as... Read more
While many of us find ourselves progressive, forward leaning, and liberal (for lack of a better term) on issues of sex and sexuality, we still operate out of a Christian framework and a New Testament narrative lens. This means we still need to do our due diligence in engaging the Bible and faith on matters of ethics and values. However, as we engage these things there must be better and more important questions to ask then the one we unfortunately... Read more
Last month we saw the seminal and grave decision made by the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn Roe v. Wade. Human rights activists, from politicians to the religious (inter-faith as well as liberal and conservative Christians a like), raised their voices to express their passionate opinions on the matter. And for good reason. One of the main questions that has emerged is, “Is the Bible pro-abortion?” I’ve sat back this last month and read through news media, instagram... Read more
Who created God? It isn’t a bad question to ask. Although it isn’t often queried about. While it is a valid question, it is a scary one. You know what they say…curiosity killed the cat! There is this sense that if we keep to ourselves and don’t go too dangerously far down the rabbit hole we will be ok. Perhaps the question is perceived as an irreverent one. Maybe we are afraid what it might mean that our minds have... Read more
If you follow me on Instagram you will be familiar with my bio lines, one of which reads, ‘Post Christian thinker and writer.’ Because of this special mention I often get messages from people asking me to explain what this means. This is always super difficult. How can I possibly explain in a DM what it means to be post Christianity? All of the subtleties and shadows, all of the complexity, the blood, sweat and tears of even getting to... Read more
Deconstruction is undoubtedly the word of the hour. I have a lot of thoughts on this and wonder about, if any, its connection to philosophical deconstruction via Jacques Derrida and furthered by Jack Caputo. I wrote about it last month in my article, The Non-Click Bait Article on Deconstruction. So, when I use the term “deconstruction”, I use it with all the nuance in the world. But for all intents and purposes, allow me to use it as it is currently... Read more
I received a text from a friend earlier today asking me if I had seen the Hillsong documentary. My answer was no that I hadn’t. I know many people are watching that sort of thing at the moment, but I know it would just infuriate me while also confirming everything most of us already knew about Hillsong and their brood. We have seen this happen with countless churches, both big and small. Why would Hillsong ever be exempt? Hence, my... Read more
You’ve heard it said, ‘The death of God’ But now I tell you, ‘The death of philosophical Atheism.’ In 1966 Time Magazine asked, “Is God Dead?” via Thomas Altizer, William Hamilton and Paul van Buren. This came several months after Time had explored the question of whether or not theologians of the 1960s were trying to write God out of theology. The 1966 issue wondered if God was still a viable option for agency when science, secularism, and modern philosophy... Read more
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