On Learning Our Lessons from History Everyone has heard some version of philosopher George Santayana’s famous saying that those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. The study of history is crucial to knowing what might happen in the future. Please bear with me as I add my own footnotes to Santayana’s maxim: “Whatever has happened in history could happen again.” Now, of course, the past is unrepeatable in the literal sense. An event of... Read more

Two Evangelical Churches on Christmas Eve (2016): As Different as Night and Day *No responses needed or wanted* I love diversity. People in America tend to lump all evangelicals together–as if we all think the same, live the same, look the same and worship the same. While we share some beliefs in common (e.g., Jesus Christ is the sole Savior and Lord of the world), we are as different as night and day in other respects. This Christmas Eve I... Read more

For a few days around Christmas (2016) I will not be able to moderate this blog on a regular basis. So please celebrate whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year (Christmas, Kwanzza, Hannuka, Winter Solstice or whatever) and check back occasionally. My regular moderation and occasionally postings will resume a few days after Christmas. Thank you for your patience. Read more

An Excellent Arminian Book on Divine Providence As an out-of-the-closet evangelical Arminian I am often asked for recommendation of a book about divine providence from an Arminian perspective. When I have reluctantly admitted there aren’t any I can recommend without reservations, some inquirers have urged me to write one. It’s a task I’ve been reluctant to take on. I have often recommended my friend Greg Boyd’s excellent book Is God to Blame? even though it is not a thorough treatment... Read more

The Transcendent Foundation of Humanism (Or Why Human Rights Are not Arbitrary) Recently and before that I have argued here that without a transcendent, “supernatural” foundation, humanism is simply speciesism. Again, as always, someone objected that even if there were a transcendent, supernatural foundation for humanism (such as God), humanism would be “arbitrary.” Here I set out, as concisely as possible, to explain why that is not the case. First, however, please bear with me and exercise patience as I... Read more

My Thoughts about a New Proposal about God’s Providence and Power Below is a paper I presented at the recent (November, 2016) annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in San Antonio, Texas. This paper was presented as part of a panel discussion of theologian Thomas Oord’s proposal about Christian theology with regard to God’s providence and power in the world. Oord is a Church of the Nazarene theologian who has taught at Northwest Nazarene University. This proposal, expressed... Read more

A Kerfuffle over “Church Autonomy” among Baptists My apologies to those of you who have no interest in Baptist debates, but they constitute a significant part of my life and, in my opinion, there is tremendous confusion adding fuel to the fires and generating more heat than light. So here, in a rare blog post about Baptist matters, I want only to shed some light and avoid generating more heat (which may be impossible). As editor of the forthcoming 14th... Read more

And Now It Begins…Trump’s Ignorant and Un-American Opinions and Plans… According to Associated Press news reports president-elect Donald Trump said on November 29 (2016) that Americans who burn American flags should face “consequences.” Here is the reported quote: “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag—if they do, there must be consequences—perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail.” *Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any... Read more

What Living in a Post-Truth Culture Means It took a newspaper syndicated cartoon (“Non Sequitur”) to inform me that the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language now recognizes “post-truth” as a real English word. So I looked it up and, according to that unimpeachable source, it means: “an adjective defined as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.'” I take it this is related... Read more

Does What the Apostle Paul Said Matter? (Or Is Jesus the Only Norm for Christianity?) Many years ago, when I was in seminary (1970s), there was a huge controversy raging in Christian scholarly circles about whether Jesus and Paul could be reconciled. Some Christian New Testament scholars had been arguing for a long time (at least a century) that they cannot be reconciled and that, while Paul may be interesting, Jesus is Christians’ real norm for believing and living. In... Read more