Does Theology Even Matter Anymore? Toward the untimely end of his life, my friend and co-author Stanley J. Grenz was worrying about whether theology matters anymore. He was saying privately, to me and a few friends, that he felt theology’s time was over and that Christianity was entering into a post-theological phase. And not “phase” as in “passing phase” but permanent phase, new era, new stage. He talked about the “end of theology.” We had many discussions about this. I... Read more

Why I Do Not Think of God as “Infinite” Many people, many Christians included, think that God must be, by definition, infinite. There are, however, many different meanings of “infinite.” The word itself implies to most people, educated and uneducated alike, some idea of limitlessness. It leads the mind onto a path of “perfect being ontology”—a big, fat, scholarly concept that more or less means God must be incapable of change of any kind (immutable, impassible, “actus purus”). If one... Read more

How I Tried on Fundamentalist Christianity and Found It Didn’t Fit If you’re reading this, you need to look back at my immediately preceding post about how I tried on liberal Christianity and found that it didn’t fit—assuming you didn’t already read that one. When I say that I “tried on” fundamentalist Christianity I don’t mean quite the same thing as “tried on” liberal Christianity. I was born into a kind of fundamentalist Christianity—although it was a peculiar kind that... Read more

How I Tried on Liberal Christianity and Why It Didn’t Fit You know the experience. You see a sweater (or other piece of clothing) at a store and you like it a lot and you really want to own it. It’s not exactly your size, but you convince yourself maybe it will shrink or stretch and you buy it and try wearing it during the first cold days of winter. You like it a lot, well, sort of. It’s fashionable,... Read more

What Should “Church” Be Like? Answering the Question My immediately preceding post here was a diatribe against what I call the “new paradigm” churches in America—mostly non-descript, unaffiliated, white, mostly suburban (attended mostly by white suburbanites even if the building stands in the city’s urban center), mostly seeker-sensitive, usually concerned with getting large numbers of people to attend, usually led by “hip” pastors (of whatever ages) who mostly preach good advice but not the gospel in all its dimension, often... Read more

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