Apprentice 2 Jesus

Theology

  • Barth and Church Authority

    As I continue to wonder if I’m reading Barth correctly, I am struck by his trust of the Church. He is Reformed, so the authority of the Church is not as encompassing as the Catholic view. Still, he believes in the authority of the Church. Church authority is spiritual authority: in all its forms it… Read more

  • Barth — It’s the Word of God, but not THE Word of God

    This is a concept from Barth I struggled with years ago, but now have a level of comfort in understanding: The Bible contains the Word of God. Okay, I lie. I don’t “understand” it. I’m comfortable with it. Growing up conservative Pentecostal, having the Bible AS the Word of God was an important doctrinal statement.… Read more

  • The Power of the Cross

    I would agree with much of what Roger Olson says about evangelical churches and a serious lack of preaching on the cross. We have stripped the symbols of the cross out of our sanctuaries (or coffee shops or worship centers or whatever we’re calling them these days). The ironic piece is that I am actually… Read more

  • Regaining Pastors as Theologians

    The First Things article I referred to in my last post continues to challenge me. I may not have the role of a “wider theologian”, but I feel I must be the best theologian possible for my congregation. I don’t want to live in the realm of pragmatics or just practics. Yet, pastoral theology has… Read more

  • Pastor and Theologian

    A great article from First Things provokes some thoughts for me. I want to be faithful as a leader, a pastor, and expositor of the Word. These thoughts are good: The drain of our wider theologians from the pastorate to the academy has resulted in a two-fold problem. First, the theological water-level of our local… Read more

  • My Own Biases

    Growing up in a conservative Pentecostal setting has advantages. It seems no one likes to admit that these days. I do. It certainly has its disadvantages. I prefer to blame my own inability to learn quicker. That is mainly my problem. One bias I had growing up was a misconception of some theologians and the… Read more

  • Arminian, not Armenian…

    Great discussion on Arminian theology. Roger Olson makes the observation that much of American Christianity is semi-Pelagian. Good stuff. Read more

  • Long Haul Christianity

    It is fun to poke at setting dates for Christ to return. Here is my question, though. Are we ready for “long haul Christianity?” Are we ready to persist in faith? Endure? Take on suffering and tough obstacles? The New Testament reading for the second Sunday of Advent is clear: “For everything that was written… Read more

  • Post, post, post, POST modern!

    Hilarious video! Read more

  • Being a Confessional Pentecostal… or is it a Confessing Pentecostal?

    It shows how much I don’t know… and I readily admit it. But there is something that is becoming evident to me: I want to be more confessional in my Pentecostal roots and beliefs. I want to be more “credal.” Is that a word? I just got a spell-check squiggly… (This isn’t going to be… Read more