The “Joker/Jester” Asks Christian Fund Raisers… For those of you who have not been following this series, the “joker” or “jester” is (my term here for) a person appointed within a church or Christian organization to ask hard questions about traditional beliefs, practices, customs, habits of that church or Christian organization. He or she is promised by the leadership that there will be no negative repercussions for asking such questions. He or she can ask anything, so that the church... Read more

Why I Gave Up on Writing a Critical Survey of the History of Christian Ethics A publisher wanted me to write a critical survey of the history of Christian ethics—something like I wrote about the history of Christian theology (The Story of Christian Theology) and about the history of modern theology (The Journey of Modern Theology). I agreed to do it and immersed myself in reading secondary and primary sources—going back to the 2nd century. I wrote and wrote and... Read more

The Joker/Jester Asks “Why ‘Chosen’?” For those new to this series, occasionally I take on the role of a church-appointed joker or jester, someone given by the church the right without penalty to question anything—anything said or done by the church, its leaders especially, but also customs, habits, traditions of the congregation or denomination. It is my strongly held belief, based on many years of experiences in numerous American Christian congregations, that many of them (and denominations) develop beliefs, customs,... Read more

A Movie about Calvinism?   For those of you who have been following the series The Joker, please excuse this break. The “joker” will return in due time. One of my favorite movies is “The Truman Show.” I absolutely love it. But I didn’t know others who love it. Most people I’ve mentioned it to say they haven’t seen it. That’s sad; it’s truly one of the best movies ever. One Youtube movie critic agrees. See “The Truman Show: A... Read more

The “Joker” Strikes Again: Why Do Churches … ? For those of you who have not read my previous blog post explaining what I mean by “the joker,” this is simply a word I use here for my proposed role of the question-asker in a church. My proposal is that every church, even every Christian organization, have a person whose assignment is to ask hard questions about why it does things. My experience is that most churches (and Christian organizations)... Read more

The Joker Begins: Why Do Almost All Pastors Urge Congregants to “Build the Kingdom of God?” I recently announced that I will be posting a series here—about what I would ask pastors, Christian congregational leaders, leaders of Christian organizations and institutions if I could—without negative repercussions. I argued that every church and Christian organization should have a person whose function is to raise critical questions (not in a hyper-critical way) about customs, practices, beliefs, forms of worship—even songs sung—when they... Read more

Every Church Needs a Joker (And the Joker Cometh) At least according to legend, during the so-called Middle Ages, every monarch had at his side (or somewhere nearby) a person called a “joker” (or “jester”) whose job it was to make the monarch laugh and sometimes even make fun of the monarch. Actually, from what I have read, the joker’s job was also to ask questions. He was the only person in the royal court who could challenge the monarch’s... Read more

Let’s Talk about Original Sin—Theologically This is more than just a book review, but I will now mention a new book about original sin—Original Sin in the Twenty-first Century by Richard J. Coleman (Wipf & Stock, 2021). In the Preface Coleman writes that he would be amply rewarded (for taking up the challenge of writing a book about original sin in this time of peril) if someone wrote a book review that began: “I did not believe anyone could write... Read more

Let’s Talk about Near-Death Experiences—Theologically Someone asked me to reflect on so-called “near-death experiences.” I will attempt to here while noting that many books and documentaries have been made about the subject. I can’t possibly do justice to it in such a brief space as this. First, “near-death experience” (NDE) is a misnomer. I don’t know who coined it for the phenomenon under consideration. Perhaps the famous researcher and author of the subject, Raymond Moody who published one of the... Read more

What Is “Progressive Christianity?” I keep hearing this label “progressive Christian.” What does it mean? I answer as a theologian and scholar of American Christian varieties—ecclesiological and theological. The trouble is that there is no historical tradition of “progressive Christianity.” There are no prototypes to point back to or to now. This is in contrast to, for example, “liberal Christianity” which is a historical-theological tradition well documented and described by theologian Gary Dorrien in his three volume history of the... Read more