It’s Not About Paris, It’s About Our Planet

June 2, 2017 By Kyle Roberts

Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement is probably the most pompous “America First!” policy change that Trump has announced thus far. It’s also the most short-sighted–and unless the 4-yr timeline prevents it from happening–potentially the most tragic. Care for the environment is not a nationalist concern, it’s a planetary concern. The recognition of the looming and very real planetary crisis is why leaders from 195 countries signed the Paris Agreement in 2015. The primary goal... Read more

A Charge to Seminary Graduates (Demian Wheeler)

June 1, 2017 By Kyle Roberts

My colleague, Dr. Demian Wheeler, delivered the “charge to the graduates” at the recent commencement service of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Demian is Assistant Professor of Philosophical Theology and Religious Studies at United. He gave me permission to reprint his text here. There’s a lot here to chew on and to be inspired by. You, the graduating class of 2017, will always be very special to me. You are my first students. My father, who taught high... Read more

Believe it or Not, People Still Go to Church for the Preaching

April 20, 2017 By Kyle Roberts

The primary reason people give for going to church may surprise you: Good preaching and teaching. At least, that’s what Gallup found in a recent poll (March 2017). The poll listed common activities of church, asking respondents whether they rank as a major factor, a minor factor, or not a factor, in their reason for attending church or other place of worship. Sermons and teaching ranks highest in importance. 76% said it was a major factor, whereas music (“good choir,... Read more

The Virgin Birth and Christianity: Is it All Or Nothing?

April 19, 2017 By Kyle Roberts

Not long ago, I assumed my spot in my favorite coffee shop to work on final edits for A Complicated Pregnancy (subtitle yet to be decided), my forthcoming book about the virgin birth. I overheard two college-aged students discussing religion. The young man was a tried and true skeptic of religion, with a particular distaste for Christianity. He laid out a series of popular skeptical arguments against Christianity—and against religion in general. Religion is an opiate for the masses! Christianity... Read more

The Resurrection Revealed Jesus as Divine (Pannenberg)

April 15, 2017 By Kyle Roberts

The resurrection revealed that Jesus of Nazareth was the divine Son of God. Wolfhart Pannenberg develops this thought in his now classic text Jesus — God and Man. His approach stands as a prominent example of a “Christology from below,” as opposed to a “Christology from above,” because he begins reflection on Jesus from the concrete, particular, historical life of Jesus—who in that life shows himself over time to be not just Jesus the carpenter but also he divine Son... Read more

Did Christ Die for Non-Human Animals?

April 14, 2017 By Kyle Roberts

Good Friday reflections on the cross usually focus on the significance of Christ’s death for humans. Christ died for you and for me. Or even, Christ died for the world–with the world taken in an abstract sense or as a cipher for all human beings. But why shouldn’t the “world” include all living creatures? Why shouldn’t it include non-human animals? Your dog, your cat, your parrot? The chipmunk tunneling under your house? In short, if human beings are in need... Read more

Four Ways to Interpret the “Rock,” the Foundation of Jesus’ Church

April 6, 2017 By Kyle Roberts

In Matthew 16, Simon (soon to be renamed “Peter”) makes his famous declaration that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” As is often pointed out with Peter, this is one of the few times he gets something right. Jesus’ response is more famous yet: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock... Read more

The Problem with Seminary? Seven Big Tensions in Curriculum Revision

April 3, 2017 By Kyle Roberts

I recently attended an ATS (Association of Theological Schools) meeting of mid-career faculty where we discussed some of the daunting challenges seminaries face. We heard about some creative initiatives some seminaries are trying out, and shared our own strategies for moving forward in an increasingly difficult era for theological education. Seminaries feel mounting pressure to justify our existence because, over the past two decades, a rising number of seminaries has competed for a shrinking pool of prospective students. At the... Read more

The Fundamentalist Heresy: Jesus was a Superhuman Person

March 31, 2017 By Kyle Roberts

I haven’t blogged much lately. The reason for that is I’ve been finishing a draft of my book on the issue of the virgin birth (more technically: virginal conception). I’ll be saying more about that book in days to come. Through the process of writing this book I’m come to appreciate the humanity of Jesus in a much more powerful way. I’ve realized how much my evangelical background had instilled in me a picture of Jesus as divine — as... Read more

A Big Problem with Intelligent Design: “Don’t Look at My Bad Side”

March 12, 2017 By Kyle Roberts

“Intelligent Design” is a theory, a theology really, that claims that the complexity, beauty, order, or “irreducible complexity” of creation couldn’t have occurred randomly. The apparent “intelligence” of creation itself demands that we posit an intelligent designer. It’s a contemporary spin on a older argument, articulated with sophisticated by William Paley. Paley’s “divine clock-maker” argument for a Creator of the universe was based on the premise that, just as the existence of clocks, or watches, lead us naturally to posit... Read more