Was Jesus Really Born of a Virgin? (This Scholar Says “No!”)

Last updated on: February 25, 2016 at 12:10 pm By Kyle Roberts

I’m currently researching the virgin birth (more accurately: virginal conception) accounts in the gospels. I came across quite the provocative paragraph in Gerd Lüdemann’s book, Virgin Birth? The Real Story of Mary and Her Son Jesus. Ludemann (a New Testament scholar) looks closely at the texts in question, both biblical sources and extra-biblical sources, and concludes from the evidence that the virgin birth story was an “apologetic” meant to counter criticism of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and thereby to... Read more

On Facing Suffering: James Cone, Kierkegaard, and the Blues

Last updated on: February 23, 2016 at 12:20 pm By Kyle Roberts

For awhile now, I’ve wondered why more hasn’t been written linking Kierkegaard’s thought with themes of liberation theology. Christ as the “abased one,” rather than the already-resurrected Christ, the primacy of action over thought/doctrine/speculation, subjective appropriation of Christianity rather than objective understanding, the concrete/lived nature of faith over mental abstractions, Christ as a person rather than Christ as a doctrine, an incisive and extensive critique of Christendom and of “triumphal Christianity,” the duty to love one’s neighbor, and just generally... Read more

“The Gods Favor Those Who Conquer”: On the Myth of Redemptive Violence (Walter Wink)

Last updated on: February 19, 2016 at 10:30 am By Kyle Roberts

The gods favor those who conquer. Walter Wink’s now-classic book, Engaging the Powers, begins with a definition of what he calls the “Domination System,” which captures the way that the “Powers” (economics, politics, power arrangements, etc.) operate in the majority of social arrangements throughout the history of the modern homo sapien. Wink explains that at the very root of the Domination System lies “the myth of redemptive violence.” This myth is “the original religion of the status quo, and is... Read more

“The Pope v. the Donald”: Two Contrasting Eschatologies?

Last updated on: February 18, 2016 at 4:19 pm By Kyle Roberts

What makes a true Christian? Who gets to determine that? That’s the most obvious question raised by today’s very public brouhaha (of sorts) between Donald Trump and Pope Francis. In an interview on the “papal plane,” the controversial and much-loved Pope, said that Donald Trump’s views of immigration suggests he is “not Christian.” Trump’s stated immigration policies–i.e. promising to build a huge wall across the Mexican border–drew the judgment of the Pope who contrasted the building of walls with building... Read more

Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination and the “Book that Breathes”

Last updated on: February 17, 2016 at 4:37 pm By Kyle Roberts

Walter Brueggemann is a rare bird. He’s a biblical scholar, an Old Testament theologian, with an acute sensibility for the contemporary significance of that ancient text. He seems to have imbibed the spirit of the prophets–ingesting and applying their “prophetic imagination” to problems and challenges of our time. His close attention to the ancient text seems to have given him a freedom to speak between worlds–with words of encouragement and inspiration and with words of incisive criticism. In other words,... Read more

The Problem of Certainty and “Making a Murderer”

Last updated on: February 12, 2016 at 10:46 am By Kyle Roberts

Like a lot of the rest of America, I was entranced with the Netflix documentary “Making a Murderer.” (Spoiler alert!) The series–filmed over a period of 10 years–follows the story of Wisconsinite Steven Avery, a two-time convict. Avery was exonerated by DNA evidence while serving time for his first conviction, only to be convicted again for a second violent crime shortly after his exoneration and release. I’m not going to speculate as to Avery’s (or his nephew, Brendan Dassey’s) guilt... Read more

Ash Wednesday from a Mexican-American Perspective

Last updated on: February 10, 2016 at 11:02 am By Kyle Roberts

A book I regularly assign my theology students is Virgilio Elizondo’s Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise. First published in 1983, it’s now in its 6th printing. Today I was reminded of a reflection in the book on the unique Mexican-American experience of Ash Wednesday. Here you go: To anyone who knows anything about the religious practices of the Mexican-American people, it is obvious that one of the most sacred rites of the year is the reception of ashes on Ash... Read more

On Wheaton: If Reconciliation Means “Parting Ways,” then Christianity is Done For

Last updated on: February 9, 2016 at 12:54 pm By Kyle Roberts

Today is a big day at Wheaton College. It’s not a happy day. It’s a heavy day. Wheaton, widely known as as the”flagship” evangelical liberal arts college, has found itself embroiled in a public relations nightmare over the past several months. I won’t retell the story here–I assume most of you know it already–but the short of it is that the Wheaton provost, Dr. Stan Jones, placed political science professor Dr. Larycia Hawkins on administrative leave and set her on... Read more

On the Ambivalence of Believing in Life After Death

Last updated on: February 8, 2016 at 4:31 pm By Kyle Roberts

Does believing in life after death make this life more precious and valuable or less so? Does it maximize our investment in this life or minimize it? Does it motivate working to improve the situation of this world or does it invalidate such work? That’s the question theologian Moltmann raises toward the beginning of The Coming of God. Here’s the relevant paragraph, in which he poses the question and probes the precariousness and ambivalence of belief in an after-life: The thought... Read more

Is the Resurrection a “Broken Myth”?

Last updated on: February 4, 2016 at 11:51 am By Kyle Roberts

Yesterday I posted a response to a reader’s rich question about the resurrection: What happens when your emotions and desire to believe something (like the resurrection of Jesus) collides with your critical skeptical faculties? I’m teaching a course called “Immortality and Hope” this semester. We had a very interesting discussion the other day on a reading from Neil Gillman’s The Death of Death. In his introductory chapter, he unpacks the notion of “myth” and shows that there are many dimension... Read more