American Lutheran Theologians I Have Known *Note: If you wish to skip over all the autobiographical reports and reflections and go directly to my thoughts about Robert Jenson, perhaps America’s most creative and influential Lutheran theologian of the past few decades, go directly (way down) to the paragraph that begins with “My agreement with Jenson….” This past week (October 31, 2017) some Protestants were celebrating and others “commemorating” the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century which, allegedly, began on October... Read more

A Neglected Theory of the Atonement? (The “Governmental Theory”) *Preface: This is an old blog post that I have edited and amended. When I first wrote and posted it here some years ago I intentionally did not mention the atonement theory’s name. Because of some discussion here lately, however, I am naming it “up front.” You will notice some differences in writing and editing between the original essay and the materials I have added (e.g., capitalization of atonement theories, etc.).... Read more

 Words and Imagery of Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant” in the New Testament Attributed to Jesus (By “attributed to Jesus” I only mean the imagery is attached to Jesus by the NT authors, clearly indicating that they thought of Jesus as the final fulfillment of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah.) *Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions... Read more

Is the Roman Catholic Church Catholic Enough? I recently read an excellent book by two Arminian-Wesleyan friends. One is a theologian and the other is a philosopher but both are very knowledgeable about both philosophy and theology. Kenneth J. Collins and Jerry L. Walls have written Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation (BakerAcademic, 2017). The publisher asked me to write a promotional statement for the book before it was published, so I read... Read more

Why is it that, during my lifetime, evangelical Christianity in America seems to have largely forgotten and possibly even discarded the theme of substitutionary atonement? Read more

Please, please, Lecrae, do not abandon evangelicalism according to its true meaning which is not tied to any movement. Read more

Is Christian recognition of civil marriage a relic of Christendom? Read more

The one seemingly obvious commonality in these tragic, even horrific events: they are all committed by boys or men. Read more

Most Calvinists I have ever read or heard or spoken to will insist that God is not the author of sin and evil. But can they, real Calvinists, say that with logic on their side? Read more