Faith on Film is a monthly feature published the last Sunday every month. Though This Property Is Condemned is an often overlooked footnote in the highly successful careers of its cast and crew, it deserves appreciation not merely for its artistic merit, but its power to absorb and outrage. Today, though there are differences between our world and the reality presented by the film, its story has unique parallels with how our faith is understood and managed by the institutional... Read more
Qualified Restoration is a brand-new atonement theology I have proposed to address the problem of evil, God’s role in salvation, human agency in the process, and the relationship between God and all creation. Because of this, it is unique compared to other contemporary atonement theories. Emphasizing divine mercy, restoration, and the transformative power of faith, Qualified Restoration proposes that Jesus is offered to humanity by God so that we might have faith. This theory addresses sin as a pervasive attraction... Read more
This is the final article of a three-part series proposing a brand-new atonement theology. Follow this link to start from the beginning. Understanding atonement in Christian theology unveils a wide spectrum of interpretations and debates spanning across time, the geography of the earth itself, and denominational differences. In contrast to current approaches, I propose an original theology of atonement I call Qualified Restoration atonement, a theory that reframes salvation from the perspectives of divine mercy, restoration, and the transformative power... Read more
This is the second article of a three-part series proposing a brand-new atonement theology. Follow this link to read part 1. Over the past several weeks, much of the content in the articles I have written has been tangentially connected to atonement. Atonement is a theological explanation for how we are saved from our sins. Last week, I explored how many contemporary atonement theories are woefully inadequate, and do not provide explanations consistent with scripture or human experience. Indeed, atonement... Read more
Faith on Film is a monthly feature published the last Sunday every month. More than an amazingly entertaining, moving, well-crafted film, The Shawshank Redemption is also a manifesto against the dangers of institutions and the people who become their victims. It is a film the church needs to rewatch with new eyes, especially on Resurrection Sunday. The Plot In case you are one of the few who have never seen the film, The Shawshank Redemption follows the journey of Andy... Read more
Atonement lies at the heart of Christian faith, bridging the problem of humanity’s brokenness with God’s redeeming love. Unfortunately, many Christians, even theologians, have great difficulty articulating how we are saved. Sure, there are simplistic pat answers, like by faith or by grace… Okay, but how does that work? Shouldn’t we at least have a simple understanding of how we are saved that is consistent with not only scripture, but our experience in relationship with God? Over the past year,... Read more
Churning beneath the surface of this true story about strong females succeeding against limitations imposed by men, Cabrini is a theological treatise for immigrant equality and affirmation within the body of Christ. It’s a message all of us need to hear, and it’s very timely. Don’t get me wrong: Cabrini is certainly a story of women refusing to be constrained by complementarian oppression within and without the church. From the very beginning of the film, a lot of men are... Read more
Many Christians underestimate the theological significance of Jesus’ Lost Coin parable, leading them to overlook its radical perspective of how God’s relationship with humanity intersects with our redemption. The parable has always fascinated me. Unlike it’s more famous scriptural predecessor, the parable of the Lost Sheep, recounted in both the gospels of Matthew and Luke, and it’s poorly titled Lukan successor, the Prodigal Son, this short and sweet analogy is often critically evaluated as a theological afterthought. In this way,... Read more
Faith on Film is a monthly feature published the last Sunday every month. For too many in this world, hope is not an everyday occurrence. Sometimes it seems as if the tragedies of our existence become so commonplace that we lose the core of who we are and become incapable even of outrage. This was the reality of life in Sarajevo thirty years ago. In the aftermath of fall of the Berlin Wall, ethnic and nationalist tensions erupted when Bosnia... Read more
I’ve been amused by the idiotic controversies sparked by the He Gets Us Super Bowl commercial. Although the makers of the ad certainly intended to provoke debate, most of the reactions proliferating social media and even news reports seem to be missing the point. And even if taken at face value, the commercial itself lacks a fundamental truth that should not be avoided. Just so we are on the same page, here is the ad in question: Knee Jerks... Read more
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