What If Twins in a Womb Could Think and Talk? A Parable I recently came across a fascinating parable in a new theology book. For years I’ve been using my own version of the parable in teaching theology but didn’t know it was already “out there.” I’m going to summarize the parable in my own words even though I don’t think it is copyrighted. The book I found it in attributes its version to Henri Nouwen but says it was… Read more

Franklin Graham said opposition to President Trump is “almost demonic” & “spiritual warfare.” This was expressed in the Watergate days, but not by Billy Graham. He said he felt betrayed—by Nixon. Read more

Finally Some Common Sense about Boys, Men and Masculinity Here, several times, I have raised questions and posed answers to this thorny issue in American culture: masculinity. Is it essentially toxic? Or can there be a “good masculinity?” That has been my underlying question. It seems to me that, especially in academic circles, “masculinity” has come to be viewed as essentially toxic. Many men feel that some feminists and others want to wipe masculinity away and, if possible, make boys… Read more

A Relational View of God’s Sovereignty Roger E. Olson   My office phone rang and I answered it. A stern voice said “Is this Roger Olson?” who which I confessed. The man introduced himself as pastor of Baptist church in the state, implying that he was a constituent of the seminary where I teach. Anyway, I got the message. “I hear you don’t believe in God’s sovereignty,” he declared. I responded “Oh, really? What do you mean by ‘God’s sovereignty’?”… Read more

Is Contemporary Worship “Utterly Dangerous?” Keith Getty Says Yes In a recent article published in The Christian Post, an online Christian news magazine, contemporary Christian hymn writer Keith Getty declared that the “modern worship movement is utterly dangerous, causing de-Christianizing of God’s people.” That might be putting it a bit more strongly than I would, but I have argued something similar here. Please read the Getty interview at The Christian Post’s web site. Use a search engine to find it…. Read more

Can God Change the Past? And What Does that Have to Do with Open Theism? My thesis: The “past” is what by definition, a priori, cannot be changed. That means that even God cannot change the past anymore than he can make a round triangle. Even William of Ockham, one of the main medieval formulators of nominalism and voluntarism admitted that, although God has no essential, unchanging nature that binds him, he cannot do what is strictly illogical. This nearly… Read more

Who Needs a God Who Looks Like Us? Over my years of teaching Christian theology I have frequently encountered the problem theologian Karl Barth identified as “projection.” (Of course, he was borrowing that term from 19th century atheist Ludwig Feuerbach who argued that God himself is but a projection of humanity on the “heavens. Barth used the term for a different concept.) For Barth, “projection” is when people project themselves onto God. For example, when people think that God as… Read more

A Question about Evangelical Churches that are “Welcoming and Affirming” Let me define my terms. To me, “evangelical” is a brand of (mostly) Protestant Christianity that strongly emphasizes the unique inspiration and authority of the Bible, that believes and preaches and teaches that all people are sinners in need of redemption and that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of the world and that he is God incarnate, the Second Person of the Trinity. It also believes, preaches and teaches… Read more

The Fundamentalists Are At It Again Most American fundamentalists stopped calling themselves fundamentalists years ago—around the time the media used that label to label non-Christian religious militants and terrorists. I was shocked when I heard the Ayotolah Khomeinei and his Iranian followers as “fundamentalists.” I had never before heard the label “fundamentalist” attached to anyone but extremely conservative but basically orthodox British and American Protestants. *Here I speak only for myself* Around that time many extremely conservative but basically orthodox… Read more

What Is It Like to Be Black in America? The simple answer is “I don’t know.” One thing I do think I know is that “It depends.” It depends somewhat on location, education, economic status, and gender. I’m not saying those differences change everything; I’m sure they don’t. But the differences aren’t what concern me here. What concerns me here is that in spite of fifty years of abolishing “Jim Crow” laws, in spite of the somewhat successful Civil Rights… Read more