-
The God who will not give up
“God saves in ways past finding out, with a persistence and wisdom exceeding anything we can or will understand.” — Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder
-
The new creation is enacted
From N.T. Wright’s new book, The Challenge of Acts: When we put chapter 2 together, then, we find that the ancient promises about God filling the whole creation with his wisdom and glory have become focused on Jesus and his followers. The small sketch of the church in verse 42 functions eschatologically: Jesus’ followers become a small working model of…
-
Bonhoeffer’s approach to the rise of Nazism
It was 1933 and the German national church was almost entirely on board with Nazi propaganda. Over 90 percent of the student body in the theology department at the university in Berlin had joined the National Socialist Party.
-
The need to regain the true definition of love
I am not a sociologist and I offer this only as an illustration. When we don’t understand the deepest motives of our actions, the actions we think are “righteous” will die a quick death.
-
To keep the main thing the main thing
Walking my way through Marsh’s biography on Bonhoeffer, there is a time in New York where Bonhoeffer attends Union Seminary for a year. He also encounters Reinhold Niebuhr. He leaves after a year of study at Union frustrated because he found their theological approach too weak.
-
Quick thoughts
This morning I was meditating on spiritual heritage. Two things I am thankful for this morning: The theological roots of being Anglican. It sharpens my mind and widens my theological perspective. It roots me in the blessedness of the Kingdom and delivers me from the escapist sectarianism I knew before. The spiritual roots of my Pentecostal heritage and my connection…
-
The messy kingdom
The gospel of Jesus Christ is more political than anyone imagines, but in a way that no one guesses… The political metaphor, “kingdom,” insists on a gospel that includes everything and everyone under the rule of God. God is no religious glow to warm a dark night. Christ is no esoteric truth with which to form a gnostic elite. The…
-
Repairing the world
The God in whom we believe is the creator of the world, and he will one day put this world to rights… That solid belief is the bedrock of all Christian faith. God is not going to abolish the universe of space, time, and matter; he is going to renew it, to restore it, to fill it with new joy…
-
Facing the apocalypse
Anxiety is up. Frustration is high. Anger boils over. AI will take over the world. “I, Robot” was right all along.
-
Jesus and the Powers, Part 8
The final chapters in the book, Jesus and the Powers, are a struggle for me. Chapter 7 is the struggle. Chapter 8 is the summary. The fact of the matter, for Wright and Bird, is that government of some form is necessary. I can’t disagree. For all the shouting people do about corrupt government (on the “right” or the “left”),…
Category: Theology
