Does Satan Do That? Recently I was talking with a friend about a failed plan to get together. Our meeting would have taken some planning and travel. We pondered why, why our plan for along-overdue reunion fell through due to circumstances beyond our control. He suggested that God’s plans over rule ours. “Man proposes, but God disposes.” It says something like that in Proverbs. But is it always God? Does God make our carefully crafted plans fall through? I speak... Read more

A New Evangelical “Barmen Declaration?”   I have long called for a new Barmen Declaration that addressed our contemporary American political and social crisis.  Here is one recently written and signed by many evangelical and other leaders. I have asked that my name be attached. I’m not including the list of signers here as, in the past, some have gotten into trouble with their institutions or churches for signing declarations. If you are not familiar with the Barmen Declaration, look... Read more

Should Christians Believe in Ghosts? Many, many people do believe in “ghosts,” more an visions or apparitions of the “spirits” of people who are deceased. Ontologically real beings who are dead and appear to people. Should Christians believe in these? Many do. I have always been curious about ghosts. One story I was told growing up was that, when I was about three, I “saw” my dead mother. She died when I was two. One day, people tell me, some... Read more

Should Christians Participate in Alternative Healing? My wife and I often watch episodes of a British television show called “Escape to the Country.” We may never make it to the UK but through the show we know a lot about it, especially the counties, town and villages. One common theme is people wanting to buy a country home with space for “spiritual healing.” Very often that is “Reiki”—a method of healing through manipulating the “universal life energy” that flows in... Read more

An Example of Modern, American Barbarism We Americans think we are civilized, not barbaric. Of course, we believe there are barbaric people among us, but we think of our society itself as anything but barbaric. And yet there are a few practices that are widely accepted almost without question that stand out as barbaric. Barbaric is the only word for them. One has been in the news lately. County officials in two locales have charged fourteen year old boys as... Read more

Is Demonic Possession Real? What about Exorcism? The reason for this blog essay is the recent Netflix movie (or movie on Netflix) titled “The Deliverance” starring Glenn Close. But also, the streaming service series “Evil” (Paramount Plus). Both feature dramas related to demonic possession and exorcisms. I watched a few episodes of Evil and decided it wasn’t my cup of tea. I mean, it just wasn’t that interesting. Every episode leaves the viewer wondering if the story was really of... Read more

My Trickle-down Theory of Ideas and Practices Several readers have asked me about the relevance of theology as I have written this series of essays about revolutions in modern theology. ”The trickle-down effect” is a phrase usually used with regard to economics. It is the belief that if the rich get richer that will benefit even the poor. “A rising tide lifts all boats.” US president Ronald Reagan used the phrase to support his policy of cutting taxes of the... Read more

Does God “Become?” Another Revolution in Theology Recently here I wrote about a major turn in modern theology beginning with the German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel who talked about God as Subject and not substance. (Or, in one place, Subject as well as substance.) Later, after Hegel, many especially Protestant theologians picked up on that and made more of it. These included Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Juergen Moltmann, Eberhard Juengel and Robert Jenson (whose picture I attached here). I... Read more

Strange Bedfellows: Hegel and Kierkegaard My immediately preceding post was about Hegel’s revolutionary idea of God as subject rather than substance. It was a reaction against Protestant (and Catholic) scholasticism which had engaged in what we today call “ontotheology”—treating God as a thing, an object, to be examined by the human mind without personal involvement or commitment. Hegel didn’t go all the way with his insight; later theologians such as Karl Barth went further with it, partly with the help... Read more

The Modern Revolution in the Doctrine of God I have here before talked about the book that launched my interest in modern theology and especially modern thinking about God: God after God by theologian Robert Jenson. But what was the revolution in thinking about God among Christian philosophers and theologians that God after God illustrated? Of course we could trace the revolution I’m talking about further and further back; that’s always the way it is. Who started it? “It” referring... Read more