2014-07-17T14:05:45-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:05 pm   By

Growing up evangelical, I had drilled into me the dichotomy between “the law” and “grace.” We become broken record players, reminding ourselves and other people that we are saved by faith and not by following the rules. But then we often substitute ideological correctness (which is how we define “faith”) for following God’s rules as the “work” that saves us. I’m convinced that without a change in how we understand salvation, we cannot escape some form of works-righteousness. If salvation... Read more

2014-07-17T14:05:54-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:05 pm   By

I’ve been working my way through Greg Boyd’s God At War. One of the things he proposes is that Genesis 1 should be interpreted as God’s ordering of chaos rather than His creation of the world out of nothing (ex nihilo). Boyd’s contention is that the “void, formless” world of Genesis 1 is the world after a cosmic battle perhaps also alluded to by the extra-Biblical myth of Lucifer’s fall out of heaven. Whether or not we want to go... Read more

2014-07-17T14:06:04-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:06 pm   By

I just looked over an essay by Katie Mulligan that deals with the topic of redemptive suffering in the context of Tony Jones’ controversy/dialogue with feminists. Redemptive suffering is a very abused concept in Christian history. Many women in abusive marriages have been told to stay put and “bear their crosses” because their suffering somehow honors God. Enabling an abuser is not redemptive suffering; it’s allowing a lie to be treated as the truth. But Mulligan points out a different... Read more

2014-07-17T14:06:11-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:06 pm   By

Today’s Monday Merton comes from chapter 10, “Sincerity,” of No Man Is An Island. What Merton means by sincerity is being a person who lives and speaks in a way that is truthful. He opens his chapter with a single sentence that blows my mind: “We make ourselves real by telling the truth” (188). There are so many dimensions to which that is true. In a lot of ways, that is the central problem that Christianity resolves. Jesus makes it possible... Read more

2014-07-17T14:06:19-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:06 pm   By

A week ago, ex-evangelical blogger Sarah Moon wrote a post titled: “When my abuser is welcome at the table, I am not,” taking aim at the presumptuousness with which some progressive Christians champion a table where everyone is welcome. A friend had told Moon that she should be grateful Jesus died for the man who raped her and she should accept him as her fellow forgiven sinner. Though Moon wasn’t necessarily writing about life after death, the pain she shares... Read more

2014-07-17T14:06:24-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:06 pm   By

In David Brooks’ New York Times Thursday column, he shares the story of Walter Judd, who paid his way through college at the beginning of the 20th century by washing dishes. His father had refused to pay his tuition since he thought that the manual labor would be good for his character. Brooks shares that “people then were more likely to assume that jobs at the bottom of the status ladder were ennobling and that jobs at the top were... Read more

2014-07-17T14:06:27-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:06 pm   By

I’ve started reading Greg Boyd’s God At War, which I checked out of the local seminary library at the recommendation of a friend. In it, Boyd suggests that there are two basic ways of understanding the presence of evil in the world: the warfare worldview in which good and evil are locked in a cosmic conflict and classical philosophical theism which is derived from Greek metaphysics in which the attributes given to God require Him to be in direct control... Read more

2014-07-17T14:06:29-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:06 pm   By

CNN today features an article talking about the corruption in America’s charity industrial complex. One of the things that has happened most recently is that many charities are funneling most of their donation money to the for-profit fundraising firms they use to solicit people. CNN gives the example of the Kids Wish Network foundation which gives 3 cents out of every dollar to the kids that it raises money for, the rest going to consultants and for-profit fundraisers. One of... Read more

2014-07-17T14:13:18-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:13 pm   By

In the spring of 2010, I bought a Spanish language theology book, El Principio Misericordia (The Mercy Principle) by Jon Sobrino, at the bookstore of the Universidad de Centroamerica (UCA) in San Salvador. I’ve been reading it off and on for the past three years, and I finally finished it in my most recent trip to the Dominican Republic (my Spanish reading tends to happen when I’m actively thinking in Spanish). So I’ve decided to do a series exploring some... Read more

2014-07-17T14:13:18-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:13 pm   By

[This is the first synchroblog of our new blogging collective The Despised Ones addressing the question of power and authority in the light of Philippians 2. Check out other synchroblogs on our facebook page and like it while you’re there!] What does the cross say about God’s nature? Not just Jesus, but God — all three members of the Trinity, including the Father. When Jesus says to Philip in John 14:9, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” how... Read more

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