Needed: Robust Arminian Theology for Lay People (Especially Youth) As most people who come here know, a “new Calvinism” movement (some prefer to call it “neo-Puritanism” and others call it the “Young, Restless, Reformed” movement is spreading like wildfire among evangelical Christians, especially young people in their late teens and twenties. To an alarming degree this is happening in evangelical churches where Calvinism has traditionally been not only virtually unknown but definitely an alternative to their heritages and ethoses. I... Read more

Christianity and Science: How They Relate to Each Other in Modern Theology The unifying theme of my newly published book The Journey of Modern Theology: From Reconstruction to Deconstruction (IVP) is Christian theological responses and reactions to modernity. Modernity is, of course, that cultural ethos stemming from the Enlightenment and the scientific revolutions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries especially. (One could extend the era of modernity’s cultural dominance in the West into the twentieth century.) Toward the end of... Read more

Yesterday I received from the publisher complimentary author’s copies of The Journey of Modern Theology: From Reconstruction to Deconstruction (InterVarsity Press). Amazon says its publication date is December 1, but it is now available from the publisher if not from Amazon. And I’m sure it can be ordered at any bookstore. It is in the publishers’s warehouse. The volume is 720 pages including the index. Below are the four recommendations published on the back cover and at Amazon. I’m deeply... Read more

Right, Wrong, and Necessary It seems that many people think that in every situation of moral decision making there are two options and two only: right and wrong. By “right” I mean what one ought to do in order to be obedient to the highest moral law (whatever that may be). By “wrong” I mean what one ought not to do because it violates the highest moral law. Right and wrong. Black and white. And the only problem of ethics... Read more

What it looks like when God is busy among us Recently I asked readers to suggest what it looks like when Stanley Hauerwas’s test of the church being the church is met—when God is busy among us. Many have offered interesting and sometimes helpful ideas and images here. Of course, since this is my blog, I have some answers of my own to offer. Inevitably, most will agree with parts of what I suggest and disagree with other parts. But... Read more

How Do We Know When God is “Busy” Among Us? Theologian Stanley Hauerwas says that the only evidence of the church being the church is when God is busy among us. I like that. If I recall correctly he also says God being busy among is the only real proof of God’s existence. My question to you is “What does that look like? What happens when God is busy among us?” Please be specific. Don’t just say “Lives transformed.” How?... Read more

Scripture and Tradition Again: What John Calvin Said I hoped my quarrel with Gerald McDermott had ceased, but apparently that is not the case. I often receive e-mails informing me that he contends in blogs here or there that my view of Scripture and tradition is dangerous. He does not claim that I am liberal but that my view of Scripture and tradition (sola or prima Scriptura) leads down the slippery slope to liberal theology and that evangelicals can only... Read more

“Strange Fire?” Fundamentalists and the Holy Spirit Just this month fundamentalist-Calvinist pastor John MacArthur, host of the “Grace to You” radio program and author of numerous books (including Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship [2013]) hosted an anti-Pentecostal, anti-charismatic conference in Southern California called “Strange Fire.” You can check it out by simply googling that phrase and visiting the conference web site. To be sure there are excesses and aberrations among Pentecostals and charismatics.... Read more

“Three Reasons Why I Preach An Arminian Theology” by T. E. Hanna (Guest Post) I think it is fair to say that our contemporary Christian subculture is saturated in a Reformed theology. This isn’t necessarily bad. Many of these voices hail from brilliant scholars whose knowledge and wisdom adds powerful depth and vibrancy to our understanding of God and scripture. D. A. Carson’s commentary on the New Testament use of the Hebrew Scriptures, for example, is always within reach when... Read more

A Modest Proposal for Fixing the World: Let Women Run It I take it most people are aware by now that women are morally superior to men. Few would argue that women actually have greater value than men—in some ontological sense (whether in the eyes of God or simply in terms of value to world). However, evidence has been piling up for a very long time that women are simply better human beings than men—overall and in general. Of course,... Read more