We are still stumbling badly in our witness as American conservative Christians. This past year has left many, including me, wondering about the label “evangelical.” Continue reading “White Evangelicals in America and the Reckoning We Need”
Tag: Politics
At war with American idolatry
Last fall I worked through a series called “Living in Babylon.” It was a call to understand the rapidly shifting cultural landscape and then learn how to live like Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and Esther in Persia. Continue reading “At war with American idolatry”
The political Jesus
Jesus’ own message was incendiary. It’s worth hearing the words again: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). Jesus was relativizing the authority of all human government: the power of the Herodian dynasty in Galilee, the Roman governor in Judea, the religious council of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, even Caesar ruling from his distant throne in Rome. The kingdom of God is a seditious and subversive proclamation. — Chris Webb, God Soaked Life: Discovering a Kingdom Spirituality Continue reading “The political Jesus”
Our struggle to defend the indefensible
Greg Boyd’s Crucifixion of the Warrior God brings to the table a discussion on the radical love of God AND dealing with the Old Testament texts dealing with the violence portrayed in God’s actions and orders. He doesn’t set aside the OT stories as simple myth. He wants to wrestle with the inspired text.
I have a long way to go in his monstrosity of a work, but want to reflect on how he deals with Augustine’s view of the love of God and violence. Augustine believed in the radical love of God but would embrace God’s violent actions in the OT as another form of love. (I guess it’s kind of warped view of “tough love” or something…) Continue reading “Our struggle to defend the indefensible”
Racism and equivocation
After the horrible events in Charlottesville, VA, over the weekend, we are showing once again as a country that we are horrible at talking about racism. Even in the church. Continue reading “Racism and equivocation”
The cultural operating systems
Over the past few years, we have watched some massive cultural shifts. These have been shifts I’ve observed, written about, prayed over, and tried to prepare our church for as these “operating systems” have changed. Continue reading “The cultural operating systems”
The trip down memory lane
Frances FitzGerald’s book, The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America, is mostly a trip down memory lane for me. She gives a quick history of early revival movements in America to establish her trail as to where our current state of “evangelicalism” has its roots. But the bulk of the book is spent on the rise of such organizations as the Moral Majority and moves forward. This is the time period in which I grew up and I was thoroughly entrenched in these kinds of things. Continue reading “The trip down memory lane”
