Over the past few years many, many people have asked me to respond to critics–most of them Calvinists. Many have also pressured me to enter into public debates with specific Calvinist theologians and radio personalities. I decline most such invitations and urgings. I choose my conversation partners carefully. For one thing, I simply do not have time to get into long, protracted debates with everyone who criticizes me or Arminianism. They are too numerous. But that does not mean I... Read more

William (Bill) Walker III is earning his Ph.D. in theology and ethics from Claremont Graduate University with Anselm K. Min as his mentor. He teaches courses in ethics at a university in San Antonio, Texas. He is a former student of mine and now I am also proud to call him my friend. Posting his essay on inclusivism here does not imply that I agree with everything in it. However, I think it is thought-provoking and well worth considering. It’s... Read more

As usual, my musings here are primarily about the larger evangelical community. Catholics and so-called “mainline Protestants” can listen in and exchange ideas, but my thoughts here are primarily about how we evangelicals should handle fallen leaders. It seems every year another well-known evangelical personality is exposed as having clay feet (or worse). I’m going to avoid naming names here because I have no interest in participating in the feeding frenzy that follows such exposures–and often lasts for years. Most... Read more

Review of Apostles of Reason by Molly Worthen Part Two Before reading this you should have read Part One which was posted earlier. Each installment of this three part review focuses on one of the three parts of the book. This one focuses on Part II: To Evangelize the World. In Part II Worthen continues to hit the right notes. Here is how she ends this Part and Chapter 7 “Renewing the Church Universal”: “By the final decade of the... Read more

A serious health problem (not my own) has required an interruption of my reading and reviewing of Apostles of Reason. I’ll get back to that as soon as possible. Please stay tuned… In the meantime, I’d like to reflect here briefly on the frustrations of a blogger trying (often unsuccessfully) to be clear. Let me use my recent post about “Why I Am Not a Process Theologian” as an example. Many (!) commenters have misunderstood my intention there. I thought... Read more

Review of Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism by Molly Worthen (Oxford University Press) Part One This review will appear in three parts corresponding with the three parts of the book. This first installment covers the book’s introduction and Part I: Knights Inerrant. (Feel free to skip the first nine paragraphs which are autobiographical. The review of Worthen’s book actually begins with paragraph ten.) I admit to having a weakness for books about evangelicalism. Evangelicalism is... Read more

Is American Becoming a Police State? A few months ago I was having a discussion with a group of very socially conscious, highly intelligent graduate students who read widely and deeply in social and political ethics. Somehow the question whether America could ever become a police state came up. One student perceptively asked “How would we know?” What he meant was, how would we know if we were in a police state? Do most people who live in police states... Read more

Why I Am Not a Process Theologian Lutheran theologian Robert Jenson once quipped that the only thing wrong with process theology is that it is such an attractive alternative to Christian faith. I agree. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying people who believe in process theology cannot be Christians. Lots of people are Christians whose theology is profoundly messed up. Maybe the majority of Christians’ theology is profoundly messed up! What I am saying is that insofar as... Read more

Dispelling a Delusion about the Subjunctive Mood (Why Saying I Would Not Worship God If…Is Not Insulting to God) Ever since I said here that if God were the God described by TULIP and the God of divine determinism, the author of sin and evil, I would not worship him I have been besieged by critics who suffer under the delusion that I said something about God—something demeaning to God’s glorious transcendence (etc.). The same happens when I say if... Read more

Explaining Calvinism to Calvinists (and Others) One surprising feature of the new Calvinist movement is that so many claim to be Calvinists but have not studied Calvinism thoroughly. Nothing shows that more clearly than the responses offered here to my critique of the Calvinist pastor who prays that his son be “among the elect.” Many Calvinists simply do not understand Calvinism. I, as an Arminian, understand it better than they do. And right now, here, I am not talking about... Read more