I was recently graciously granted on of the highest honors a university can bestow on a professor–an endowed, named “chair” (professorship). In my case it is the Foy Valentine Chair of Christian Ethics–named after a champion of equality and crusader for civil rights. I’m honored by this, and thankful to my dean and provost for their trust and esteem. So, as a newly minted “official” Christian ethicist (although I’ve taught Christian ethics for many years), where should I begin? Where... Read more

Yesterday I was sitting in a coffee shop in a largely Hispanic neighborhood and picked up a Hispanic newspaper. (It was written in both English and Spanish and published in the U.S.) I read a lengthy column about Hugo Chavez. The gist of the column was that the U.S. wrongly demonized the late Venezuelan leader. I am almost sure that I would not have liked Chavez and would have been embarrassed by him were I a Venezuelan. At the same... Read more

Okay, I care–in the sense that I am interested. However, I have lived long enough to know that it’s impossible to predict what a newly elected pope will do. It’s like Supreme Court justices. Everybody gets all in a dizzy tizzy about every newly appointed justice–claiming he or she will do such-and-such. Generally speaking, it doesn’t turn out the way the “experts” predicted. I’m vicariously excited for my Catholic brothers and sisters. But for myself, no, I’m not excited. The... Read more

Dear Blog Friends and Followers, A few friends have chided me to making over blown claims for my Barth’s universalism essay and its preceding “head’s up” post. I apologize for implying (which was not really my intention) that no one had ever expressed my view as well as I did. (I explicitly said my view in the essay was not original, but I implied that it was in some way better than others.) I apologize to those who were offended... Read more

So, as I predicted, some have criticized my essay (immediately preceding post on Barth’s universalism) for being “unoriginal.” I thought I said that I wasn’t trying to be original. I was trying to make Barth’s view accessible to the masses of people interested in Barth who will never read a journal article by Hunsinger, et al., or Church Dogmatics. Also, I did not want to do a literature search and review of recent arguments and conclusions about the subject. I... Read more

Was Karl Barth a Universalist? Another Look at an Old Question Roger E. Olson The question of Karl Barth’s universalism has been much debated—even during the Swiss theologian’s lifetime. Several theological critics accused him of teaching the “heresy” of “apokatastasis”—universal reconciliation. Among them were Donald Bloesch (in Jesus Is Victor!), Hans Urs von Balthasar (in The Theology of Karl Barth), G. C. Berkouwer (in The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Kark Barth) and Emil Brunner (in Dogmatics, Vol.... Read more

Almost every time I say to a colleague or friend who is knowledgeable about Karl Barth’s theology that he was a universalist they answer negatively (“Nein!” 🙂 So, about a year ago, I decided to dig into Church Dogmatics again and see what I could come up with. I studied Barth’s doctrine of election some years ago and concluded that it logically leads to universalism even if Barth himself denied that he was a universalist. I knew that four great... Read more

What Is “Authority?” I grew up in a religious community that highly valued “authority.” That was true whether the authority be secular or religious. “Authority is given by God” was a common maxim. Children should not question parental authority. Church members should not question church leaders’ authority. Pastors should not question denominational leaders’ authority—unless they are obviously violating biblical doctrines, divine commands or the law. Even then, I was told, subordinates’ duty is only to pray for them. Citizens should... Read more

Safe and Unsafe Sects (and Problems with Terms for Alternative Religious Groups) My interest in “cults and new religions” began when I was still a child with my uncle who belonged to a religious group my parents considered a “cult.” I also had a cousin who joined a movement that calls itself a “world faith” but is considered a cult by many people. Somewhere along the way I began to realize that the religious group we, my immediate family and... Read more

20 Years Later: Would the US Government Do It Differently Now? (On the Anniversary of the Branch Davidian Disaster) I remember very well watching live network television when US government tanks inserted C-2 gas into the Branch Davidian compound near Elk, Texas in 1993. I remember thinking “They’re crazy! What are they thinking? There are children in there!” Watching as the compound burned to the ground, knowing that many innocent (especially) women and children were dying inside was one of... Read more