Is Universalism A Heresy? I tell my students that universalism is the least heretical of all heresies. But is it even a heresy? It certainly is in some Christian churches. A problem with calling it a heresy is that at least Gregory of Nyssa, an Orthodox Church father, was a universalist. And in recent times, orthodox Christians such as Karl Barth and Juergen Moltmann have been universalists. David Bentley Hart is one. I know of others who would not want... Read more

Liberal Theology and Salvation Here I continue my series about my book Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity with Chapter 6: Liberal Theology and Salvation. If you have read the chapter, feel free to comment. If not, feel free to ask a question. Again, in this chapter, I say that the problem with liberal theology is not so much what it affirms as what it denies. In the case of salvation, it (usually) denies any idea of... Read more

Is There A Moral Difference?   By all accounts, thousands upon thousands of children are starving in Sudan. Many of them were being kept alive by USAID which has now been terminated. By accounts of now-fired USAID employees, warehouses in the US and other countries are filled with food waiting to go to Sudan. It is not getting to then and probably will not because Trump canceled the only means of the food getting to the hungry—USAID. Hitler and Himmler... Read more

Remembering the “Progessive Orthodoxy” of Horace Bushnell Part Two Bushnell was self-consciously a mediating theologian. He stood against the stream of New England Unitarianism and the accommodating liberalism while at the same time resisting the rigid orthodoxy and incipient fundamentalism of neo-Puritanism and the Princeton Theology (Alexander and Hodge). He strongly defended belief in the supernatural, including Jesus’ miracles (although he felt no need to defend every biblical miracle story), while at the same time defending the need to adjust... Read more

Liberal Theology and Jesus Christ Here I continue my discussion of my book Against Liberal Theology with Chapter 5: Jesus Christ in Liberal Theology. If you have read the chapter, you may comment and/or ask a question. If you have not read the chapter, you may only ask a question. Jesus asked his disciples who people said he was. Classical, traditional, orthodox Christianity, real Christianity, has always said he is the Son of God, even God the Son. The pagan... Read more

Remembering the “Progressive Orthodoxy” of Horace Bushnell Part One   Progressive Orthodoxy One thing I like to do here is point readers back to neglected theologians. As a historical theologian, I find many “new” proposals in theology are not that new. Often they echo theological ideas of the past even as their promoters advance them as new. There’s some truth to the old sayings that there’s nothing new under the sun and that history repeats itself. In fact, sometimes it... Read more

God According to Liberal Theology This continues my/our discussion of my book Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity. Here I take up Chapter 4: God According to Liberal Theology. If you have read the chapter you may comment. If not, only ask a question. The thesis of the chapter is: “The majority of liberal Christian thinkers do not believe in supernatural divine interventions in nature or history. However, the revisions go deeper. Most modern liberal Christian thinkers... Read more

Pentecostal versus Charismatic versus Prosperity Gospel Yes, today these labels overlap. But that was not always the case. Here’s the story. The modern Pentecostal movement in America was born in 1906 at the Azusa Street Revival near downtown Los Angeles. People spoke in tongues and some identified that as the “initial, physical evidence” of the “second blessing,” the “infilling of the Holy Spirit.” The movement then went on to birth numerous denominations including the Assemblies of God. The mostly Black... Read more

The Liberal View of the Bible Here I continue discussion of my book Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity. The subject here is Chapter 3: Liberal Theology and the Bible. If you have read the chapter, you are welcome to comment (following my stated guidelines below). If you have not read the chapter, you are welcome to ask a question that is clearly on topic. A problem here is that there is no “orthodox” (small “o”) doctrine... Read more

The Sin of Shutting Down USAID According to reliable news reports, Elon Musk has called USAID (United States Agency for International Development) a “tremendous fraud” and a barrel of worms. I know people who work for USAID and it is perhaps America’s greatest agency, saving millions of people, including children, from starvation in places like Sudan and Haiti. So far as I can discover, no evidence has emerged to support Musk’s (and others’) claims about USAID. So why is this... Read more