Theology – Apprentice 2 Jesus

The end of the world

I grew up in a pre-tribulation atmosphere in church. Those were the days of “A Thief in the Night” movies and books like The Late Great Planet Earth. I wrote an essay in a high school writing class on the final clash of the Soviet Union taking on Jesus’ army or some such crazy endContinue reading “The end of the world”

Pentecostal Orthodoxy — real presence

“While others have come to the concept of real presence through faith and or propositional biblical truths, I came to real presence through experience.” — Emilio Alvarez, Pentecostal Orthodoxy

The “fad” of liturgy

Early on in my journey into a more liturgical life I remember reading from other friends on Facebook about their exploration into liturgical worship. I remember when I was “hooked” by the Eucharist. Others, the more I read, really liked the typical “evangelical” worship model (concert level professional worship, topical sermons), but when they wantedContinue reading “The “fad” of liturgy”

Pentecostal Orthodoxy — I had been playing around

My reading has me in Emilio Alvarez’s new work: Pentecostal Orthodoxy: Toward an Ecumenism of the Spirit. As I am in the early pages, I find myself evaluating where I was on my personal timeline compared to Alvarez. There are a few conclusions I draw from my timeline.

Pentecostalism and the ancient church faith

Pentecostal Orthodoxy is out and I am here for it. Emilio Alvarez hits home for me: If you are a Pentecostal and you find yourself tired of solely identifying yourself with ripped-jeans, muscle-shirt preachers with $100 haircuts and heavily tinted beard; if you find yourself tired of moralistic therapy accompanied by emotional, performance-based worship devoidContinue reading “Pentecostalism and the ancient church faith”

Pentecostal Orthodoxy

I have carried an awareness about myself for most of my adult life: I am a slow learner. I’ve joked about it from time to time in the presence of others, but I know it to be my personality. It is now to the point of irritation. I’ve picked up a new book, Pentecostal Orthodoxy:Continue reading “Pentecostal Orthodoxy”

The last third project of love and insanity

I love to read. I put goals on Goodreads and then blow past it because I hit streaks where I just want to consume books. I love reading new work and work from the past I’m introduced to, and occasionally re-read past books, like Merton’s Seven Story Mountain or Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy.

Holy Saturday

The tomb is sealed. We know the end of the story, so we want to rush on. We want to see that stone rolled away. But it’s Saturday. It is silent. It is dark. That stone laughs at us. Death wins. We don’t know the end of the story on Saturday. Sit in the darkness.Continue reading “Holy Saturday”

Why “CRT” is the new conservative Christian boogeyman

David French gets at fundamental issues with how CRT has become the new dog whistle for conservative Christians. Note this: he makes the bold claim that the definition of CRT was fundamentally and intentionally changed by conservative activists to encompass and enormous number of arguments and ideas about race, including arguments and ideas that haveContinue reading “Why “CRT” is the new conservative Christian boogeyman”

Our misunderstanding of salvation

I have been rekindled in my thoughts concerning “salvation” the past few years. We have such a truncated version of “gospel” that we try to keep it reduced to something like, “Jesus came to save you so when you repent you can know you go to heaven when you die.”