How Many Basic Christianities Are There? *Note: If you choose to comment here, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, civil and respectful in language (not hostile or argumentative), and includes no links or photos.* To clear away predictable objections, I will say “up front” that I know very well there are many types of Christianity. The question I am asking and attempting to answer here is whether there are really only three... Read more

How to Read a Challenging Book *Note: If you submit a comment, make sure it is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, civil and respectful in language (not argumentative or hostile), and does not include any links or photos.* By “a challenging book” here I mean something LIKE David Bentley Hart’s recently mentioned here “You Are Gods.” In less than two weeks I will begin a series of chapter-by-chapter discussions of the book. I have already read... Read more

An Outsider’s View of Eastern Orthodoxy *Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative) and does not include any links or photos.* My first experience with Eastern Orthodoxy was my first girlfriend. She was Greek Orthodox and the first girl I ever kissed. Then, years later, one of my main professors in my Religious Studies Ph.D program at a major American... Read more

Are We Gods? *Note: If you choose to comment, please keep it relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, civil and respectful in language (not argumentative or hostile), and devoid of links or photos.* I am looking at David Bentley Hart’s new book “You Are Gods: On Nature and Supernature” (University of Notre Dame Press, 2022). After trying to figure out the cover art, I finally, with some fear and trepidation, began reading. For those who don’t know,... Read more

Bad Religion (Not the Punk Rock Band) *Note: If you choose to comment here, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, civil and respectful (not argumentative or hostile), and devoid of links or photos.* It seems bad religion is all over the place these days. Maybe it always has been. In fact, I know it has been for a long time. The problem is that today, in the third decade of the 21st... Read more

Superstition Is Back and Its Going Mainstream *Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, civil and respectful in language (not argumentative or hostile) and is devoid of links or photos.* For many years now I have studied and taught about “fringe religions” in America: cults, sects, alternative religions, minority religious-spiritual groups and movements, etc. I suppose my fascination with the subject began when I discovered as a... Read more

A New Book about Calvinism   *Note: If you choose to comment, please make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, and civil and respectful in language (not argumentative or hostile). Also, do not include any links or photos.* Thanks to publisher B&H Academic (formerly Broadman and Holman) I received two complimentary copies of the new volume “Calvinism: A Biblical and Theological Critique” edited by David L. Allen and Steve W. Lemke (2022). Some... Read more

Is Dispensationalism Orthodox? *Note: If you choose to comment, be sure to keep it brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, civil and respectful (not argumentative or hostile), and void of any links or photos.* Over the years of my journey through American evangelical Christianity of many types I have discerned that dispensationalism has become “taken for granted” as biblical and orthodox, perhaps even essential to a robust biblicism and orthodoxy, by many, many conservative Protestants. I am aware... Read more

Without a Doubt? *Note: If you choose to comment, please make sure your comment is relatively brief (not over 100 words), on topic, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and does not include any links or photos.* Is something wrong with me? I have begun to think there must be. Over the years I have read numerous Christian books that either are about DOUBT or include a discussion of doubt. Most that I have read make doubt either a... Read more

What Is Truth? An Answer Explored *Note: If you choose to comment, please keep it brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, devoid of links or photos, and civil and new respectful in language (not hostile or argumentative).* Pilate asked “What is truth?” Philosophers have been asking it—before and after Pilate. Today, in the early twenty-first century, many people have given up on truth. There seems to be a new crisis of truth in Western culture. Pop psychologist Ashleigh... Read more