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”

Understanding Justice

I am working my way again through Fleming Rutledge’s marvelous work, The Crucifixion. The understand the depths of the meaning of the cross and its importance, we have to understand what is meant by injustice. Therein lies the rub.

Israel… it’s complicated

The trip to Israel was important to me to connect with the time of Christ and other biblical eras. The trip also could not avoid modern Israel and its current conflicts. While we were in Israel there was some activity between Palestinians and Israeli settlers that flared up. We weren’t near any action, but itContinue reading “Israel… it’s complicated”

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.

Evangelical orthodoxy centers on one thing… and it’s not Jesus

Nor is it the Bible. Two things I grew up believing deeply, Jesus and the Bible, turns out, in practice, NOT to be the centering thoughts of our American evangelical lives. And there is data.