For the last 20 years, I have been a disruptor – a corrective. Whether in education, the Church, or society, it has been my role to make people think. To make people experience the joy of possibility. To induce moments of clarity through reason and sometimes even provocation. However, there was a fatal flaw in my reasoning. It was based upon the premise that the individual desired honesty. That they were willing to be honest with themselves and with... Read more
“Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the marketplace, and cried incessantly: “I seek God! I seek God!” As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. … The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. “Whither is God?” he cried; “I will tell you. We have killed him—you and I. All of us... Read more
It has been a little over a week since the Charlie Kirk murder. I wanted to write something immediately; however, as has been my custom, I took time and space to gather my thoughts and simmer down in order to process. During this time, the country went mad, and now things that need saying must be said. I recognize that some will not read this article in its entirety and just call it propaganda, but this article is not for... Read more
It is perhaps the most clichéd idiom in all Christianity: “God loves you”. It can often be heard uttered to non-believers as part of a larger presentation of the Gospel and to believers as an encouraging platitude. Outside of these instances, how much is really known about the love of God? To begin to understand this, we should ask a more generic question: How does someone know when they have been loved? Is it through language? Is it through gifts... Read more
Throughout the process of researching for the Kingdom of Man, I was surprised by just how little has changed throughout recent church history. For whatever reason, we seem to never learn from the mistakes of our past, making the axiom that there is “nothing new under the sun” fairly accurate. Although this fact is quite depressing, it does raise some interesting questions. When people refuse to learn from the past, there are usually a few possibilities: Ignorance is bliss. Perhaps... Read more
In the Kingdom of Man, I stated unequivocally that untrained conservative evangelicals (politicians and other lay leaders) are working harder than ever to usher in the end times. I demonstrated how evangelical theology, particularly the development of dispensationalism, has influenced this belief. I demonstrated how these leaders use the Old Testament promises made to Israel by God as proof texts for the idea that America will be blessed by following God. Basically, bad hermeneutics + dispensationalism = our current situation.... Read more
We live in a world of extremes. Oftentimes, when people feel religiously threatened or afraid, they tend to take comfort in dogma because it provides security. This is not just true of those who lean more conservative, but it also affects liberals as well. And when people become comfortable with their dogma, it can turn into fundamentalism. In contrast to what most people think, fundamentalism is not just a trap that conservatives can fall into, but liberals as well. Intolerance... Read more
In the Kingdom of Man, I argued that one of the most significant factors contributing to the turn towards white Christian Nationalism within conservative Evangelicalism is its foundation in Christian Idealism. Essentially, theologians became swept up in the philosophical idealism that was inherited from Hegel and other idealists. When applied to theology, it attempted to construct a belief system that imagined God as one who could never escape the dialectic of human perception. Ultimately, this presented Christianity in terms of... Read more
To be a Christian, You Must First Deny It Around the mid-19th Century in Denmark, it was well-known that Soren Kierkegaard was not a “Christian” – he had made that almost annoyingly clear. This, despite the fact that he was also well known for his writings on Christianity. Kierkegaard remained steadfast in this assertion until he died in 1855. Needless to say, this frustrated the academic elite and church leaders of his generation because while he was denying being a... Read more
It was only a matter of time before we were going to see conservative ideologies collide. In fact, I am surprised that something like this has not happened already. If you have spent any time in conservative circles, you are well aware at how quickly divisions can form. Dispensationalists against Calvinists; Lutherans against Catholics; and everyone against Pentecostals. This was something that Donald Trump was apparently unaware of when he appointed Paula White-Cain to head up the faith department. Not... Read more
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