White conservative evangelicalism had just survived its perceived nightmare of the Obama presidency. They were certain that contraception mandates, cake-baking mandates, transgender people being free to use the restroom for their gender identity, and ultimately the legalization of same-sex-marriage were…
Why I long for the church of my youth
In this age of alternative facts, when truth means whatever people want it to mean, I find myself longing wistfully for the Christian tradition in which I was raised — although, for the most part, it has long since passed…
On being a church with a mission or being a missional church
“Either we are defined by mission, or we reduce the scope of the gospel and the mandate of the church. Thus our challenge today is to move from church with mission to missional church.” The move from church with a…
What I’ve learned about agreeing to disagree in contentious times
As a teacher for most of my adult life, I knew not everyone would — or should — blindly agree with my perspective. For at least two decades, I chose to teach my seminary graduate courses around conference tables rather…
This year’s tug of war over the Catholic vote and why it matters
Much has been written about evangelical Christian support for President Donald Trump — believed to be a key to his election in 2016 — but attention this year is turning also to the Catholic vote as a pivotal bloc. Joe…
Are we finding God in ourselves or ourselves in God?
Is God behind the COVID-19 pandemic? Is God intervening to bring judgment on America? Does God bless gay marriage? Does God recognize a woman’s right to choose? Is God accepting of everyone? Does God welcome everyone into the body of…
We need to get our theology straight: It was not God’s intent that Jesus die
In incarnational theology Jesus reveals to us the very nature and heart of God – so the cross cannot be Jesus’ payment, saving us from God. There can be no distinction between the work of Jesus and the work of God, the nature of Jesus and the nature of God.
The ‘tie that binds’: fellowship is disrupted and distanced, but not destroyed
Social distancing has disrupted our habits of work and worship. We can adapt, whether adeptly or awkwardly. We do not, however, have to let social distancing disrupt or destroy “the tie that binds” and “the fellowship of kindred minds.”
Frank Tupper, theologian who said God does what God can do, dead at 79
Frank Tupper, a Baptist theologian who taught generations of seminary students that when it comes to the problem of evil and suffering “God always does the most God can do,” died Friday, Feb. 28, just more than three years after suffering paralysis in a fall at his home that left him confined to a wheelchair.