The thing I like best about public intellectual David Brooks is his open and unapologetic belief in a universal cosmic moral order. These days that is not something anyone can simply take for granted. I am sure Brooks does not think such a universal cosmic moral order is obvious to everyone, but I am sure he believes it is objectively real and something needing to be discovered. He thinks, as I do, that it is not a social construction, infinitely... Read more

Almost everyone agrees that in 2025/2026 America is severely divided. Perhaps at no time since the Civil War in the 1860s has it been this bad. Then the issues were clear—slavery, abolition of slavery, states rights. Today, the issues are not as clear. In order to bring some clarity to the problem I will focus here and now only on the two major political parties. Each has about equal numbers of supporters but there are many independent voters. The problem... Read more

Here I announce a new book discussion for those who are interested. The book is The Myth of Certainty: The Reflective Christian and the Risk of Commitment by my former colleague and forever friend Daniel Taylor. This book spoke to me in a powerful way when I was struggling with doubts and questions about what I had been taught and was expected to believe, especially by pastors and evangelists and even by some college and seminary teacher. I recognized myself... Read more

*Now continues a second part of this series; this series is about my reasons for being a Christian and for embracing a particular “brand” of Christianity called (as in the name of this blog) “evangelical Arminianism.” In order to understand this post you need to read the immediately preceding ones about my reasons for being an “evangelical” Christian. 9) My Third Reason for Embracing “Evangelical, Arminian Christianity”: “Arminian” My immediately preceding post/essay explained why I am an evangelical Christian—both descriptively... Read more

There’s another round of heresy-hunting going on among American evangelicals. It’s playing out on Youtube. Many conservative evangelical influencers (and would-be influencers) are condemning annihilationism as heresy. This round of that old controversy began with Christian celebrity Kirk Cameron allegedly affirming annihilationism. What is annihilationism? It’s the belief that the wicked will not spend eternity in any traditional hell (torment) but will be extinguished, annihilated. According to annihilationists, the souls of those who reject God’s grace will simply cease to... Read more

What is “Critical Race Theory?” Well, there is no universally agreed on definition. However, across definitions and descriptions there are some common and agreed on features. Critical Race Theory (CRT) holds that racism against Blacks is endemic to American society. It is not just individuals who are racists; American society is racist, especially the parts of it that are dominated by Whites. And most of it is dominated by Whites in that every White person in America enjoys “White privilege”... Read more

This is a question a reader asked. I’m happy to offer my thoughts. It’s a question of ethics as well as of psychology and here I treat it as that rather than of psychology. I held an endowed chair in Christian ethics at a major Christian research university. Here I will only address the question for Christians. This question is personal to me. The last thing my father said to me was “If you tell anyone what you know about... Read more

  I knew of this “Third Way” in American political engagement long before I heard its name—“Third Way.” According to some sources, the label was coined by New York pastor-theologian Tim Keller and is inspired by his book Center Church. For those who do not know, Keller was a very influential pastor, thinker, speaker, writer and co-founder of The Gospel Coalition, a mostly Reformed group of conservative Protestants. In brief, the Third Way eschews church alliances with political parties and... Read more

Here I continue discussion of Walter Rauschenbusch’s The Social Principles of Jesus with Chapter VIII: Private Property and the Common Good: Private Property Must Serve Social Welfare. If you read the chapter, feel free to comment. If not, feel free to ask a question. In any case, observe the rules set forth at the end end. Was Rauschenbusch a socialist? There is no simple, straightforward answer except, perhaps, that he was not not a socialist. In this chapter he expresses... Read more

Here I continue discussion of Walter Rauschenbusch’s book The Social Principles of Jesus with Chapter VII: Leadership for Service. If you have read it, feel free to comment. Otherwise, feel free to ask a question. In any case, observe the rules set forth at the end here. Here is the heart of this chapter: “Here, then, we have another social principle of Jesus. The ambition of the strong must be yoked to the service of society. Power and honor must... Read more