Over the years, since I “came out” publicly among evangelicals as an Arminian (beginning with my 1999 Christianity Today article “Don’t hate me because I’m an Arminian”) Ihave received many books and manuscripts about Calvinism and Arminianism from authors. Often they CLAIM to have discovered a via media between Calvinism and Arminianism or a biblical alternative to both. In most cases (perhaps every case!) I have found them to be promoting either Calvinism or Arminianism without knowing it. In other... Read more

Recently I laid down some rules of thumb by which I will decide which reader comments I will post and which I will not. I will not post comments by persons who come here only to argue, heckle or try to embarrass me (or someone else). This is a forum for dialogue. I will never post comments that engage in ridicule or intentional misrepresentation of others’ views. Fortunately, following those rules of thumb has worked to calm things down quite... Read more

From time to time I like to post book reviews here, especially reviews of books that relate to issues of concern to evangelical Arminians. If you persevere to the end (of the review) you’ll find something to chew on. Review of Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine by Peter J. Thuesen As an outspoken Arminian I find any book about predestination irresistible. So I had to accept when invited to review Predestination by Thuesen, professor and chair of... Read more

I guess (if Bruce Ware is right [and the reports about his view are correct]) Stephen prayed wrongly when he prayed “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (Acts 7:59). And Paul prayed wrongly when he prayed “Lord, come quickly!” (1 Cor. 16:22) And the author of Revelation prayed wrongly when he prayed “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20) (Let’s not wrangle about whether the 1 Cor. 16:22 prayer could be “The Lord has come!” Rev. 22:20 and the Didache make clear that’s... Read more

Is there hierarchy in the Trinity? Part 3 If you have not read parts 1 and 2 of this series, this part 3 will probably make little sense to you. I suggest you go back and read parts 1 and 2 first. Why even discuss whether or not there is a hierarchy of authority within the immanent Trinity? For complementarians the reason is to show that there can be absolute equality of being, worth and value together with inequality of... Read more

Is there hierarchy in the Trinity 2 If you haven’t read Part 1 of this series, this won’t make a lot of sense. I suggest you go back and read that first. In Part 1 I talked about the traditional theological distinction between the immanent and economic Trinities and how everyone agrees there is hierarchy (i.e., subordination of the Son to the Father) within the economic Trinity. But there is an ongoing debate among evangelical theologians about whether there is... Read more

Is there hierarchy in the Trinity? Part 1 One of the many controversies among evangelical theologians and biblical scholars surrounds the question of the immanent Trinity, specifically whether there is within it an eternal hierarchy of authority with the Son being subordinate to the Father. In this particular controversy “subordinate” means with regard to authority. So the specific issue dividing evangelical theologians and biblical scholars is whether the Son (and I assume the Holy Spirit) exists eternally under the Father’s... Read more

I realize this is not about theology per se, but it is, in my opinion, about social justice. I also realize many people don’t think this issue is sufficiently serious for mention. (One person called me “goofy” for writing about it in the local press. Oh, well.) Somewhere between 25 and 50 years ago women (and some men) began to speak up about double standards that negatively impacted girls and women (e.g., in high school and college sports and in... Read more

Today I received an e-mail from a Church of Christ member chiding me for saying (in the book Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicals) that I do not consider Churches of Christ “evangelical.” There I mentioned that, by and large, they seem to have a theology of salvation that borders on legalism or works-righteousness. The e-mailer disagreed and said he grew up in and was educated in a Church of Christ context. This is one claim I have made... Read more

It’s a saying; please don’t get offended or accuse me of swearing! So, here’s a fact. No matter what fact a person cites, someone will contradict it. If I say to a sufficiently large audience (anywhere, anytime) “The Bible contains 66 books” SOMEONE will inevitably correct me by saying (for example) “No, it has only 49 books.” And often they’ll simply toss out the correction in a kind of “Gotcha!” fashion and leave it there without explanation. It happens all... Read more