Something Seriously Wrong with Much of American Christianity Where to begin and where to go and where to end—in explaining all the things wrong with contemporary American Christianity? I don’t know. What I do know is that just about everyone will have a different answer. So this is just my answer for today. Recently I have had the privilege and opportunity of traveling around this great country (the United States of America) and have seen numerous churches that puzzle me… Read more

The Answer to “Whose Business Is It Anyway?” (About Moral and Immoral Behaviors) Whenever the question of the morality or ethical correctness of something legal arises someone in the crowd will say “Whose business is that”—so long as the behavior being examined is legal and does not have a negative impact on that person. But, of course, that is extremely shallow, individualistic ethics. “No man is an island.” We are not talking here about what is or should be legal…. Read more

A Question for Atheists and Those Inclined to It I’m not trying to pick on anyone in particular. Anyone who has followed my blog very long knows that, from time to time, I raise questions about the rationality of atheism and about its consequences for ethics and morality. So please don’t think this is aimed at anyone in particular. Recently I accidently came across a 2015 film on a streaming video service. It was released on DVD and on Amazon… Read more

A Test of the Authenticity of Your Christianity Recently here I reviewed David Bentley Hart’s book That All Shall Be Saved. The book very strongly promotes belief in universal salvation with hell being temporary and eventually emptied. God guarantees it. He has to because of his goodness. So Hart argues. I disagreed. (Sidebar: In my review I forgot to mention that Hart is far from the first modern theologian to argue for eventual universal reconciliation-salvation. The same position using many… Read more

Should Sons (or Daughters) Succeed Parents as Religious Leaders? Well, of course there can be no definite answer this this question—either “yes” or “no.” However, in light of history, past and present, it seems highly doubtful that automatic succession of a religious leader by his or her son or daughter is a good thing. I am speaking here to congregants and disciples/followers of great religious leaders: beware of following their sons or daughters! Don’t take for granted that their sons… Read more

Review of That All Shall Be Saved by David Bentley Hart I don’t think I have ever read a book quite like this one. It’s “one of a kind” (which is really a shortened version of “the only one of its kind”). How so? It’s extremely erudite, even ostentatiously so, challenging to the mind, very harsh towards anyone who disagrees with the author’s central thesis (even insulting them), and very difficult to disagree with. Yet I do disagree with it…. Read more

Can One Be an Evangelical Christian and Roman Catholic? This question—whether one can be both a Roman Catholic and an evangelical Christian has arisen many times before. Now some are asking it in relation to the reported conversion of recently retired senior editor of Christianity Today editor Mark Galli. Some historical background to my response is in order. First, I have known Mark for many years. I have written numerous articles for CT, many of them invited by Mark. I… Read more

What the One Percent Don’t Want You to Know One of my favorite public intellectuals, partly because he is a Christian and a Baptist, is Bill Moyers. He was President Johnson’s press secretary in the 1960s and wrote many of Johnson’s speeches. Since then he has served in many government positions and has served as a Christian ethicist both to Christian and secular America. He has a series of Youtube videos that I highly recommend. Most of them are interviews… Read more

From Roger Olson: I am honored to present here a guest post/essay by influential theologian Ted Peters, a long-time “friendly acquaintance.” We became acquainted through theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg–Ted’s friend and my theological teacher. No guest poster here speaks for me, as I never here speak for anyone else. Know that Ted is not committed to responding to comments. If you have a comment, make sure it is civil in tone, brief and concise, on topic, and does not include a… Read more

An Excellent Critique of Molinism as Incompatible with Arminianism Robert Picirilli is a Free Will Baptist theologian who is, like all Free Will Baptists, an Arminian, not a Calvinist. I am not a member of any Free Will Baptist church or institution, but I have always felt an affinity with the Free Will Baptists. I have moved among non-Free Will Baptists during my adult lifetime as a Baptist, but I have stayed clear of any that are confessionally Calvinist. Many… Read more