Essentials of Christian Thought: Chapter 7: Biblical Christian Humanism First, let me apologize for not being able to access my blog yesterday. Apparently the server was down or something. Here I want to continue discussion of my book Essentials of Christian Thought by focusing on Chapter 7: Biblical, Christian Humanism. For a variety of reasons, many people in America think that “humanism” necessarily means “secular humanism.” I explain some of those reasons in this chapter and argue throughout the chapter... Read more

Is Israel Guilty of War Crimes? In case you don’t know, the world court in the Netherlands is hearing arguments brought by The Republic of South Africa that the State of Israel is guilty of war crimes/crimes against humanity. This is in responded to Israel’s response to the bombings and kidnappings in Israel by members of a Palestinian militant group based in Gaza. If you don’t know about this war, please inform yourself. Here in the U.S. the news broadcasts... Read more

What Happens When Popular Culture Takes on Christianity I admit that I watch a lot of television. But don’t judge me; it hasn’t stopped me from writing a lot of books, numerous articles, and effectively teaching Christian theology for forty years. I have complained here before about popular entertainment culture and how it so often distorts the truth about Christianity. Think about author Dan Brown, for example. If he had read any of the church fathers or even Celsus, the... Read more

Essentials of Christian Thought: Chapter Four: Non-Biblical, Non-Christian Views of Reality My purpose in this chapter (and the interlude that follows) is to warn against syncretism among Christians. Here I describe a number of major metaphysical views of reality that are antithetical to the biblical story of God and to historic, classical Christianity. Among them are: monism (and its variations including emanationism), dualism (Manichaeism), naturalism and panentheism. All are pernicious especially when adopted into Christianity, something which I have observed... Read more

Is “Evangelical” Now a Political Identity? A recent article in the New York Times suggested that “evangelical” is now a political identity more than a religious one. At least in America. And that is a major problem with the claim! Most evangelicals live outside the U.S. That fact seems to be overlooked by many pollsters, commentators, journalists, and scholars. What the article means, of course, is that IN AMERICA “evangelical” has become a political identity nearly identical with Trumpism or... Read more

Essentials of Christian Thought, Chapter 3: The Biblical Vision of Ultimate Reality Retrieved Again I ask that those not reading the book only ask questions. Readers are more than welcome to comment and/or ask questions. We come now to Chapter 3 and Interlude 3. Is there one main point of this chapter? I suppose it is that ultimate reality is both separate from nature and immanent with in. Also that ultimate reality, for the biblical writers and for most Christians... Read more

What Was Jesus’s Ethnic Identity? News reports tell of a new controversy about Jesus. An article appeared in a popular Christian magazine arguing that it’s perfectly good and right for people of all ethnic identities to picture Jesus as one of them, having their typical facial features. A leading conservative evangelical spokesman complained bitterly about the article, even stating that his father, who founded the magazine, would object strenuously were he still alive. Now, with that out of the way,... Read more

Background to Essentials of Christian Thought Some of you are reading my book Essentials of Christian Thought and some of you aren’t. I hope both groups will engage in the book discussion, although those of you not reading the book are urged to ask questions and not make comments (about the contents of the book). Here I want to explain the “long background” of the book. For many years, while teaching at three Christian universities, I wanted to write a... Read more

Essentials of Christian Thought, Chapter Two Here I will briefly comment on Chapter 2 of my book Essentials of Christian Thought (also the second interlude) and invite comments and questions from those who read it. The title is Ultimate Reality Is Supernatural and Personal (But Not Human). Here I begin to lay out the underlying, always assumed biblical “blik” or world perspective about the nature of reality, especially the ultimate reality that lies behind appearances. The purpose of the book... Read more

A New Year’s Eve Memory: Watchnight Services It’s been many years since I even heard of a church that held what was called a Watchnight Service. When I was a kid (1950s-1960s) most American evangelical churches, especially those in the Pentecostal-Holiness traditions, routinely held New Year’s Even Watchnight Services. What was that like? We gathered at the church around 6:00 PM no New Year’s Eve and ate a potluck dinner together—all ages included. Everyone brought something from home. At about... Read more