I recently used the term “theological malarkey” in response to a question related to Trinitarian theology. That has inspired me to call out a few other forms of theological malarkey in American religion today.
Trinity Sunday: It’s better than ‘daylight savings time begins’
The unpopularity of Trinity Sunday has to do with the incomprehensibility of the Trinity. We sing, confess our faith, and baptize with Trinitarian formulas, but you seldom hear someone in line at Starbucks say, “How ’bout that God in three persons?”
Experts warn that the church has lost its way — and its influence
Some Christian leaders wonder if the American church retains any meaningful influence in a society when it has been so strongly dominated by other cultural forces. In the book The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience, theologian Ron Sider laments that…
The ecstasy of God’s inner life is the model for human community
We seem to sing it better than we conceptualize it. We can muster a hearty rendering of “Holy, Holy, Holy,” probably pondering more about the “early in the morning” wording than the theological verities. I am speaking of the blessed…
The divine dance of the Trinity
Since the 14th century, the first Sunday after Pentecost has been celebrated in the Western Church as “Trinity Sunday,” presumably with the hope that one of these years we’ll figure it out. I’m kidding, but one of the ironies of…
On baptism and peace
Baptism was abused and used violently as a form of capital punishment in 16th century Europe, a time of significant Anabaptist persecution. The death method of choice was drowning in order to mock believer’s baptism. Water has the amazing capacity…
Enthusiastic about our Fellowship
On the night of June 28, I posted to Facebook this status update from my hotel room in Greensboro, North Carolina: From Wednesday’s pre-assembly Baptist Women in Ministry celebration to the closing General Assembly communion service tonight, I’ve never felt…
In good company (or, the futility of theodicy)
It was the innocence of the twenty youngest victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, all the ages of my son and his first-grade classmates, which made this latest mass shooting most enduringly haunting. Their innocence also underscores the…