Originally posted April 9, 2009: One key to my understanding of the crucifixion is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. At about the age of 30, Jesus arrives at the Jordan River and is baptized by his cousin, John. He then retreats into the wilderness where, after a 40-day fast, he’s tempted. Really tempted. That is, the result of Jesus’ interaction with “the tempter” was not foreordained. Nor did Jesus know that he was divine in such a way that he... Read more
Originally published April 14, 2009: Some of my favorite commenters (like Annie) have accused me of “straw man” arguments this past week. I disagree. That would mean that I had overinflated the arguments of my theological opponents and then popped their balloons. But, in fact, I have used actual blog posts and quotes — their very serious charges of heresy about me — in my responses. Anyone who has actually dealt, face-to-face, with persons like John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Justin... Read more
Originally published April 3, 2005: This Tuesday will mark the last time ever that I will sit in a class as a student (maybe that’s why they call the Ph.D. a “terminal degree”). I’ve read an enormous amount over the past two years, so I thought I’d look back and try to rank which books have been most influential on my thinking. Since I couldn’t narrow it to ten, here’s my shot at the top eleven: 11. Practicing Passion: Youth... Read more
I’ll be away from the interwebs until Monday, April 5, touring the Black Hills with my kids. In the meantime, I’ve scheduled a bit of greatest-hits-from-the-blog-archive for Holy Week. Please enjoy (and also remember that I won’t be around to moderate the comments). Read more
[2nd UPDATE: They fixed it, but Homebrewed is still #1 (for now…)] [UPDATE: Nick — of Nick & Josh — posted the wrong audio file, so the podcast I refer to is not yet up. This action demotes Nick & Josh to the second best podcast in all of Christendom, and vaults Homebrewed Christianity back into first place.] Rick Bennett posted a completely redonkulous fictional dialogue around Oscar time. Well, a couple weeks ago, after a few glasses of wine,... Read more
I was chatting on the phone with a friend the other day who happens to be a professor at a Christian college/university. And we got to talking about the softening of Christian colleges toward GLBT persons — be they students or faculty. And I wondered aloud which school would be the first to accept gay students. Here are the necessary caveats: What is a “Christian” college? That’s a relative description, to be sure, because one could include colleges like Gustavus... Read more
I’m hitting the road with the kids at the end of the week, not to Washington, D.C., as originally planned, but to the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota. (I decided we’ll go to D.C. when the kids are a bit older.) So, I ask you, dear readers, for the best road trip games for kids. I’ve already printed out some road trip bingo cards, and the license plate game. Any other ideas? And how about favorite audio books... Read more
Over the past month, I’ve both requested help from the Pentecostal readers of this blog for assistance with my paper for the Society for Pentecostal Studies, and then posted that paper in several parts. All the while, I kept under wraps the controversy that surrounded my invitation to that group. I did so out of respect for my hosts. However, Arlene Sánchez-Walsh has gone public with her feelings on the matter at Religion Dispatches. So now I’ll weigh in on... Read more
If there’s a Don Quixote of theology, it may be Philip Clayton, in that he attacks orthodoxies with an evangelical zeal rarely found in liberal and progressive ecclesial circles. Tripp Fuller, Clayton’s erstwhile doctoral student and cornhole zealot, shares the wry, earthy wit of Quixote’s sidekick, Sancho Panza. I first made this allusion in the preface to Transforming Christian Theology: For Church and Society, the book penned by Clayton and Fuller, and they proved true to these characterizations last week... Read more
Mitchell Landsberg of the LA Times enjoyed some of the event and published a story about it today: “I think things like denomination and ordination are part of the old system of control and domination that has to go,” Pagitt, 42, said as he relaxed after the conference’s first day at the Theo Pub set-up for participants. Around him, beer flowed and conversation leaped from Twitter to evangelism to church formation to corn toss, a beanbag game popular in the... Read more
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