Where Does Theology Really Matter? I recently had reason to re-read parts of Karl Barth’s final volume of Church Dogmatics (IV/4 “Fragment” on Baptism). In the middle of his critique of infant baptism he digresses into a complaint about how the churches don’t listen to their own theologians. He clearly didn’t expect his own Reformed denomination to adjust its belief or practice of baptism because of his devastating critique of infant baptism. One can almost hear the tears in Barth’s... Read more

Against the Political Misuses of Words Both the political and religious left and the political and religious right do it. It’s become the strategy of choice for ideologues who want to manipulate public opinion for a cause. It’s a sure sign of demagoguery and ought to be called out. Unfortunately, it’s become so common we take it for granted and are swayed by it even as we try to resist it. It’s powerful even as it’s so obviously wrong. That... Read more

Easter Ought to Mean Joy “The Lord is risen!” “He is risen indeed!” This traditional Christian call and response ought to be shouted with great joy! The resurrection of Jesus is good news for all people. It signals the hope (confident expectation) of life conquering death, not by the earthly powers of Spring but by the divine power of God breaking into and overcoming death and decay. According to the gospel Jesus did not merely “come back to life.” His... Read more

The Shadow Of Uriah Our church staff is reading through the Psalms together. This week, I was assigned Psalm 17, and as usual (as our youth pastor likes to point out), David is telling God what to do. He starts out with his typical chutzpah: “Hear a just cause, O Lord, give heed to my cry.” David is confident his cause is just, his lips are truthful, and his way is peaceful (17:1-5). And he’s confident Yahweh knows it. So because... Read more

Calvinist Attempts to Rescue God’s Character Considered and Refuted As anyone who has read me or listened to me (on the subject of Calvinism) knows, my main complaint about Calvinism is that it undermines the character of God. Of course, I do not mean that God’s real character can be undermined; I mean the reputation of God’s character is undermined by Calvinism. And when I write or speak that way I am referring primarily, of course, to “high federal Calvinism”... Read more

Remembering an All-But-Forgotten, Extremely Influential Theologian: Christoph Blumhardt Much to their credit, a few historical theologians are trying to revive memory of German theologian-evangelist Christoph Blumhardt. My friend and co-author Christian Collins Winn (Bethel College, MN) is one of them. (He and I collaborated on our recently published book Reclaiming Pietism: Retrieving an Evangelical Tradition [Eerdmans, 2015].) In my opinion, however, Blumhardt is one of those great Christian thinkers and leaders who has been pushed to the deep background and... Read more

My Visit to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (March 26, 2015) Several weeks ago I received a nice letter from President Paige Patterson of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas—the largest seminary in the world. (It is one of six seminaries officially affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.) The letter expressed appreciation for some of my writings. Dr. Patterson also expressed a desire to meet me sometime, so I responded cordially and said I would be happy to come... Read more

C. S. Lewis Said It: God’s “Goodness” Cannot Be Wholly Other For years now I have been insisting that the main reason I am not a Calvinist (or any kind of divine determinist) is that, taken to its “good and necessary consequences,” Calvinism makes God morally monstrous. I fully realize and understand that many Calvinists do not see this and disagree. Of course they do. In my opinion, most simply close their eyes to the fact that if God creates... Read more

Why Are We (In the U.S.A.) Headed toward a Police State?   Some time ago here I suggested that the U.S., a society that promotes itself as the “land of the free,” is headed gradually but discernably toward becoming a police state. All one has to do to discern the validity of this concern is pay attention to the news. Some police, prosecutors and judges, to say nothing of federal agencies, seem able to act outside the spirit of the... Read more

What Is the “Image of God” in the Human? A Place for Christians to Begin Thinking about the “Transhuman” In my most recent post here I raised ethical questions about the idea of “transhumanity” or “posthumanity”—technology being used to transcend normal humanity into “humanity plus.” So far as I can tell there are no examples of this yet; only ideas that seem possible to some people given the tremendous technological enhancements created and offered to persons with physical disabilities and... Read more