Why Jesus Was Theologically Irresponsible

Last updated on: June 11, 2015 at 6:28 pm By Adam Ericksen

I received a comment yesterday on an article that suggested I was being “theologically irresponsible.” In other words, I’m a bad theologian. At first, I was a little offended. I wanted to respond mimetically. That is, my instant reaction was to think, “I’m not being theologically irresponsible. You’re being theologically irresponsible!” Then I thought of ways to prove my point that he was the one doing bad theology. Mimetic theory claims that once we begin this cycle of accusations, they... Read more

Wednesday Sermon: “Satan Is Done For” – On Binding the Strong Man

Last updated on: June 10, 2015 at 12:46 pm By Adam Ericksen

Pastors have a frequent question when they begin to discover mimetic theory. “That’s great. But how does it preach?” Reverends Tom and Laura Truby show that mimetic theory is a powerful tool that enables pastors to preach the Gospel in a way that is meaningful and refreshing to the modern world. Each Wednesday, Teaching Nonviolent Atonement will highlight Tom and Laura’s sermons as an example of preaching the Gospel through mimetic theory. This sermon, The House of the Strong Man,... Read more

Tony Campolo: The Christian Morality of Gay and Lesbian Inclusion

Last updated on: June 10, 2015 at 10:36 am By Adam Ericksen

There is a new movement happening among Evangelicals. “Behold,” God says through the prophet Isaiah, “I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” The old movement was based on excluding gays and lesbians from the church, using the Bible in an idolatrous way that demeaned and rejected them. But now Evangelicals are waking up to the new thing that God... Read more

Is Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life? A Progressive Interpretation

Last updated on: June 8, 2015 at 10:27 pm By Adam Ericksen

You know the passage. Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This passage from the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel is one of the most controversial passages in all of scripture. Conservatives tend to interpret this passage in an exclusive way. They claim it as a concrete truth statement that means if you don’t believe in Jesus you are going to hell, because there is no... Read more

A Transgender God: Reflections on God and Caitlyn Jenner

Last updated on: August 19, 2016 at 4:58 pm By Adam Ericksen

The Internet is in an uproar about Caitlyn Jenner. And, if you’re like me, you have some Caitlyn Jenner fatigue. You may be thinking, “Not another Caitlyn Jenner story.” So, let me tell you, this isn’t another post about Caitlyn’s transgenderism. This post is about God’s transgenderism. God is transgender. Why God is Transgender Some may be offended by the idea that God is transgender, but it’s actually a theologically orthodox statement. “Trans” is a prefix that simply means “across,”... Read more

A Natural Peace: Evidence for the Abnormality of Violence

Last updated on: June 2, 2015 at 4:29 pm By Suzanne Ross

Is war an inevitable part of human existence? Is violence woven into the strands of our DNA? Or is it possible that human nature is loving, compassionate, and altruistic? Much ink has been spilled on the question and you can read social science and psychology studies that support the view that civilization is only a thin veneer over a violent natures or that altruism has an evolutionary advantage and is coded into our DNA. Unfortunately, nothing definitive on the question... Read more

My Baccalaureate Address: A Life Worth Living: On Tragedy, Revenge, and Love

Last updated on: June 1, 2015 at 4:14 pm By Adam Ericksen

I was invited by Linfield College, my alma mater, to deliver the Baccalaureate Address to the graduating class of 2015. The text was based on Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 5:43-48. This was a great honor for me and I wanted to share the text with you – My soon to be fellow Linfield graduates, it’s an honor to be with you tonight. It feels great to be back on this beautiful campus. I’m biased, but I deliver lectures on campuses... Read more

Buddhism and Christianity – On Loss, Grief, and Atonement

Last updated on: May 29, 2015 at 5:17 pm By Adam Ericksen

Life is not permanent. It’s frail. As much as we want to deny this truth, at some point we all experience the impermanence of life. In those moments, we often universalize our loss. We can get stuck in our grief, believing that this loss of a career, a loved one, a marriage, a wayward child, or our reputation now defines us. What we do with loss and grief matters. Quite often, we make the situation worse by scapegoating. As René... Read more

How the Warrior Mindset Has Damaged Policing, Children and Youth

Last updated on: May 26, 2015 at 11:54 am By Suzanne Ross

One reason Adam and I love having Bob Koehler’s weekly political analysis on the Raven Foundation website is that he is an intuitive mimetic thinker. Just as Girard claims for mimetic theory, Bob’s analysis consistently “contradicts the thesis of human autonomy.” Most politicians and law enforcement experts don’t even know that “human autonomy” is a speculative theory. They believe in it as an article of faith, and in his latest post, Zero Toleranceabout the President’s Task Force on 21st Century... Read more

Undivided: How a Christian Mother and a Muslim Daughter Find Reconciliation

Last updated on: May 23, 2015 at 12:57 am By Adam Ericksen

Undivided: A Muslim Daughter, Her Christian Mother, Their Path to Peace is essential for anyone interested in interfaith dialogue. It is written by Alana Raybon and her mother Patricia Raybon. They write honestly about their faith, their passion, and their hope for reconciliation. This book is important because increasingly the world seems to be divided upon religious hostility. Many in the US are suspicious of Islam. We are fed a constant diet of “Islamic extremists” on the news. That diet... Read more