When in a dilemma in which no purely right decision can be made, sin boldly and take action. Read more
When in a dilemma in which no purely right decision can be made, sin boldly and take action. Read more
Is justice a serial killer? Or, with perhaps a tad more nuance: is justice just a chain of serial violence? Or, with still more nuance: when we pursue social justice do we risk scapegoating and, thereby, perpetuate the chain of violence unendingly? The public theologian, armed with the doctrine of original sin, engages in discourse clarification as a means of shedding light on dark moments of history. The chain of events leading to the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse and its... Read more
Is that Christmas present with your name on it really a gift? When the New Testament tells us that we are saved by God’s grace, is salvation really a gift? Were the Protestant Reformers wrong when they touted, sola gratia (by grace alone)? Do all gifts of grace require reciprocity? Reformation evangelicals insist that God is gracious and that we fallen and sinful creatures benefit from God’s gifts of grace such as creation and redemption. Yet, some philosophers—some theologians too--claim... Read more
The dead soldier is America’s invisible scapegoat. All living soldiers are also sacred because they “risk their life” for our freedom. This should be problematic for Christians. For Christians, Jesus Christ is the Final Scapegoat because his death on the cross puts an end to the distorted delusion that some mechanism of sacrifice can purify us. When we scapegoat, we justify violence. We justify sin. We separate ourselves from God. The regrettable task of the public theologian is to make the invisible visible. Read more
Is AI a Shortcut to Virtue? Or to Holiness? H+ 2005 Could AI (Artificial Intelligence)–or even better IA (Intelligence Amplification)–make us more moral? More virtuous? More holy? Could we program intelligence enhancement to speed up our deification? Our theosis? Are these reasonable questions? Yes. After all, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, says “AI could be our savior.” So, let’s ask questions about the moral, ethical, spiritual, and sanctifying implications of AI and IA. Here I will continue the discussion of... Read more
The Public Theology of the Black Pastor Patheos PT 5015 The power of the black pastor! Even if the black pastor says nothing, we see public theology at work. This is revealed in what a defense attorney says. “We don’t want any more black pastors coming in here.” What?! Really!? “If we’re going to start a precedent, starting yesterday, where we’re going to bring high-profile members of the African American community into the courtroom to sit with the family during... Read more
Are Alien Scientists the Real Gods? SR 1171 UFO 1 “An advanced scientific civilization could be an approximation to what we called ‘God’.” This is what Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb told those attending the “Our Future in Space” program at the Washington Cathedral on November 10, 2021. Watch carefully: Avi Loeb touts the ETI myth. Will aliens put Yahweh of the Bible out of a job? Will Shiva, Vishnu, Marduk, and the Great Spirit also line up for unemployment checks?... Read more
Adam and Eve justified eating the forbidden fruit by blaming each other, blaming the serpent, and blaming God. As natural as breathing air, we human beings draw an imaginary line between good and evil. Then we place ourselves on the good side of the line. Sometimes we place someone else on the evil side of that line. We blame the evil person. We verbally curse or physically punish that person. And we do so in the name of the good. This mechanism has a name: scapegoating. Read more
I believe the concept of sin is one of the brightest lights the public theologian can shine into the darkness of racism, jingoism, family abuse, and our daily fare of maligning rhetoric. Here's my observation: When in self-justification we draw a line between good and evil, we place the scapegoat on the other side. Read more
Can science dispense with relgion? No. Not if you're Iranian theoretical physicist Medhi Golshani. Read more
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