A Philosophical Historical Novel about Evil: The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell I am usually reading one historical novel and listening to another one on my ipod. I like ones that include philosophical and theological themes. But they are somewhat rare. And I like to read/listen to books about World War 2 and the Holocaust (and their aftermath). I suppose that’s because those 20th century events especially raise philosophical and theological questions. Recently I stumbled quite by accident on an... Read more

How American Evangelical Christianity Has Changed During My Lifetime The “American Christianity” I will talk about here is specifically evangelical Christianity. But I use that category broadly to include numerous denominations and organizations. They all used to look to Billy Graham for unofficial leadership—leadership by example. I grew up in the “thick” of American evangelicalism. My uncle, with whom I have always been close, was on the national board of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). My father was pastor... Read more

How Should a Church Decide Whether to “Welcome and Affirm?” In my immediately preceding post I asked whether men and women tend to approach the controversy over whether to welcome and affirm practicing gays into churches as full members and leaders differently and, if so, why. Here I will offer some thoughts about how a church (or denomination or Christian organization) that is not already “welcoming and affirming” should go about making that decision. Often these matters are complicated by... Read more

Are Women More Inclined toward Inclusiveness than Men? Note: If you decide to comment, please stick to the question—which is not whether gays and lesbians should be permitted to marry, be ordained to the ministry, etc. The one question here is whether women are, overall and in general, more likely than men to move in that direction—toward making their churches “welcoming and affirming”—and, if so, why.   Not long ago I participated in a conversation with two women around my... Read more

Is This the Best of All Possible Worlds? What I Would Think If I Were a Calvinist Most Calvinists I know believe in meticulous providence. Some have claimed here recently that a Calvinist does not have to believe in meticulous providence (that God plans, ordains and governs all that happens without exception). However, as I have shown in Against Calvinism with many quotes from and references to leading Calvinist theologians, traditional, “garden variety” Calvinism does include it. Here I am... Read more

Should a Theologian’s Life Affect How We Regard His/Her Theology? Over the decades of studying and teaching about not only the theologies of Christian theologians past and present but also their biographies I’ve run into a common question. How should we relate their lives to their theologies? To be specific, if there’s something negative in their life story, should that affect how we value their intellectual contributions? An example that stands out is Paul Tillich. After he died his widow... Read more

Am I a Man or What? Daily we are bombarded by the media with images of what makes a “man.” Sometimes they are neutral characteristics, but often they are characteristics that could be divided into two categories—sinister and stupid. This is June and that means it’s the one month of the year when it’s okay to say nice things about men—especially fathers. But, predictably, many of those “nice things” are said with a sneer and implied qualifications. I could give... Read more

Subterranean Theology (Part 2) At the end of Part 1 (immediately preceding blog post) I asked: “When a difference in theology is rooted in subterraneanism, is there any way forward toward settling which is right and which is wrong (if that’s important)? Are any common criteria for evaluating subterranean perspectives on pre-biblical issues?” Of course, to understand this post you should first read Part 1. Perhaps I should make more clear here (than I did before) that I am only... Read more

Subterranean Theology (Part 1) Lately I’ve become interested in exploring what I call “subterranean theology.” So what is that? Subterranean theology is presuppositions that lie beneath the explicit methods and doctrines of someone’s theology; it/they condition explicit, “above ground” theology often without being seen or acknowledged. Of course, I realize I’m not the first to do this! It’s a favorite topic of doctoral dissertations and theological tomes written for scholars. My interest is in making the reality of subterraneanism in... Read more

What Will Those Who Come after Us Say about Us? Today I had lunch with an esteemed colleague whose special area of scholarship is Karl Barth’s theology. We talked about how living and teaching in Germany when Hitler was coming to power and the “German Christian” movement was growing affected the Swiss theologian’s thinking. And we talked about how Bonhoeffer and other German theologians responded to the rise of Naziism and “German Christianity.” What explains why Barth and Bonhoeffer and... Read more