Waiting for Inspiration to Hit: Stay Tuned! Dear Blog Friends, Well, it’s that time of year and this is a very unusual year! I’m busy but also hesitant to go out and shop. I’m sure you feel my pain. What a year 2020 has been! For a whole year–the strangest one that I can remember. It’s still strange–what with the continuing pandemic and attempts by a lame duck president to manipulate the federal courts and who knows what else to… Read more

Can Anyone Know Reality Itself? More about Truth In my immediately preceding essay here I talked about the demise of what Francis Schaeffer called “True truth”—not subjective truth, not “my truth,” but universal truth, truth that is true for everyone. I affirm that kind of truth, but that raises many questions and some interlocutors here raised some of them. First, let me say that I assume, contrary to some forms of philosophical (especially German) idealism a difference between the orders… Read more

What Is Truth? “Truth” is a large granite stone by the side of Interstate 35 in southern Minnesota. Or it was. Years ago, if not today, there was such a large rock sign that simply said “Truth.” Then it disappeared. That was a metaphor for what is happening in American culture—the disappearance of truth. (Truth was the name of a business; they decided for some reason to remove that particular sign.) Near the end of Jesus’s life on earth, Roman… Read more

A Theology for the Twenty-first Century What am I reading now? A Theology for the Twenty-first Century by theologian Douglas F. Ottati (Eerdmans, 2020). It’s a new 770 page systematic theology described by the author (a Presbyterian theologian) as “Augustinian, Protestant, Liberal, and Humanist.” The volume consists of 70 propositions expounded and defended—using the Wesleyan Quadrilateral as method. (Yes, both the author and I “get” the irony of a Presbyterian using the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral,” but we both also know that… Read more

Why John Piper Says I Should Not Be a Calvinist! Did you think that John Piper wants every Christian to be a Calvinist? If so, you were wrong. Watch and listen to this Youtube presentation by John Piper (or a Russian imitating his voice!): Does God Predestine People to Hell // Ask Pastor John . I was joking about a Russian imitating Piper’s voice—of course. The only reason I suggested that, tongue in cheek, is because in this Youtube video-talk… Read more

The Great Reset Is Coming! There is much talk about a “great Reset” these days. If you don’t know what that is, look it up on the internet but be sure to read (or watch on Youtube) a reliable expositor of this proposal by members of the World Economic Forum. I am still researching the proposal. But this blog post is NOT about THAT. It’s about a basic Christian belief about the future. “The Great Reset” could be a term… Read more

People Disagree. So What? I don’t remember ever being bothered by the fact that seemingly intelligent and good people disagree about important issues. But I often encounter people who are bothered by that or who believe that such pluralism means there’s no point in continuing the search for truth or being committed to a certain idea of the truth. “Theology is a mess.” No doubt about it. There’s tremendous diversity among even Christian theologians. For years I was a member… Read more

Reclaiming Something Good from a Deeply Flawed Religious Heritage I was tempted to title this blog essay something like “My experience of ‘second naivete’.” But I was afraid that would send potential readers running scared. I don’t know how many people know what is meant by “second naivete.” I learned the concept from philosopher-theologian Paul Ricouer, but perhaps he learned it from someone else. A second naivete is the experience of being able to appreciate something one has before discarded… Read more

Essentials of Christian Thought I interrupt this fascinating discussion about God (change, death) with a commercial break. My publisher has asked me to announce on my blog, today, a special deal on one of my books–good only today (November 19, 2020). Here is the email I received: “I wanted to let you know that The Essentials of Christian Thought is going to be featured as a flash deal during the ETS conference. Tomorrow (Thursday, 11/19) the eBook will be available for $2.99…. Read more

Who Died on the Cross? This is really “part 2”—following my immediately preceding blog essay “Can God Change without Changing?” There I answered in the affirmative. I do not believe in God’s immutability or impassibility or simplicity—as those attributes are often explained in the literature of traditional Christian theism. Of course I believe in them in my own way, a way which I consider more biblical than the way they have of often been described in traditional theological literature. For… Read more