Two Spiritual Books You Ought to Read Occasionally here I recommend what I consider really good books that I hope others will read because they fill a gap in many Christians’ knowledge and are therapeutic in the good sense—helping with spiritual formation. Here are two I highly recommend; please look at them on line and read what others are saying about them and consider adding them to your “wish list” if not buying one or both outright. The first is... Read more

Is Trump “Our Cyrus?” A Critical American-Christian Explanation and Response Over the past year many researchers have asked evangelical Christians who voted for Donald Trump for president why they did it—given his somewhat unsavory past in terms of morality (as understood from a traditional Christian perspective). As more of that has come to light, evangelical Christians who support Trump as more than “just another president” but as something of a messianic figure have been pressed to explain why. Here I’m... Read more

Christians in the Roman Empire and Christians in the American Empire It has become fairly common for Christian scholars to compare the “Pax Romana” with a contemporary “Pax Americana”­—both referring to far-flung influences of central cultures including military interventions and occupations. Many Christian scholars have also begun to compare Christians in the American empire to Christians in the ancient Roman Empire—both before and after its “conversion” to Christianity. Lately I have been reading early post-New Testament Christian writers again. As... Read more

Some Questions about the Latter-day Saints (Formerly Known as the Mormons?)                 (I know the image above has nothing to do with the LDS Church/Mormons; it looks a bit like the inside of the Mormon Tabernacle. I’m limited in what images I can use here. Those I can use do not include one that is specifically LDS/Mormon.) Over the past three to four decades I have had many encounters with well-informed Latter-day Saints... Read more

What Are the Greatest Dangers to Christianity Today? Notice that I am not asking what are the greatest dangers to Christians; I am assuming the reality of something I am here calling “Christianity” which is, to me, anyway, more than the aggregate of people who call themselves “Christians.” It is what the church fathers called “The Way of Light and Life.” It is the gospel revealed, hopefully received and lived. It is, if you will, a Platonic ideal—not identical with... Read more

Is “Re-baptism” Always, Necessarily Wrong? (An Answer for Believer-baptizers) One of the questions I am asked most frequently, always by believers in “believer baptism” (sometimes erroneously called “adult baptism”), is this: Is it wrong for a person to be re-baptized? Here is what they mean. (This explanation is necessary especially for those who do not understand the meaning of baptism for so-called “credo-baptists”—Christians who reject “pedo-baptism” or “infant baptism.”) Should a person who was once baptized upon his or her... Read more

ANGRY AMERICANS /THE SHAME OF THE SAME MOUTHS (Guest Post by Don Clark)   (I have explicit permission from Don Clark to post this essay to my blog. It first appeared—so far as I know—on another blog. Someone forwarded it to me and it caught my attention because of the mention of Mark Hatfield—one of my evangelical heroes. I often ask myself “Where have the Mark Hatfields gone?” But Hatfield was not alone; there was a time when many, many... Read more

Why the Mega-Church Model Isn’t Working In recent years several founders and leaders of evangelical, independent mega-churches have fallen off their celebrity-pastor pedestals hard. It’s happening again, right now, at perhaps the best-known and most influential of them all. As usual, I am not going to name names here. My interest is not at all in spreading gossip or even revealing factual information that might cause more pain to families (both biological and faith). Many of you will know what... Read more

A Paradigm Shift in Christian Theology: What It Means to Say “God Is Jesus” Recently I published here an essay entitled “Who Is God?” In it I quoted German theologian Jürgen Moltmann as answering that question “Jesus.” Now, as a reminder, anyone who knows Moltmann’s theology knows he is not a “Jesus Only” or “Oneness” or “Modalist” with regard to the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity has been one of his specializations; it pervades everything he writes about. He... Read more

Literary Christian Fiction: Where Is It? (Some Examples) I have always been a fan of good novels. Not necessarily classics (although I’ve read some and enjoyed them). I like historical novels and especially ones that have some something to do with Christian history or where the characters (or at least one) are serious Christians and not stupid or sinister. An example—that I really enjoyed—is entitled simply “Q” and is published by Mariner Books (2005). The author is “Luther Blissett” which... Read more