The recent murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk is a tragedy. It is reprehensible that violence has become commonplace in America. I pray God’s comfort for Charlie Kirk’s family as they mourn his loss. The proliferation of memorials about his passing has raised another question for me. What are people lamenting? For many, the main […]
I come from a family that has three generations of military service. My great-grandfather was a soldier in World War One. My grandfather was a convoy truck driver in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps during World War Two. My gentle Mennonite mother was a military nurse in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves — fortunately, […]
I am a theologian. More specifically, I am a Mennonite Brethren theologian. I speak not only to MBs, but I speak as an MB — intentionally and unapologetically. In the past several years, as I have studied MB approaches to theology, I have become convinced that the unsystematic and eclectic methods MBs have employed have […]
My recent post about the place of experience generated some conversation over on Facebook, and it reminded me how compelling personal experience is in forming one’s theological convictions. A couple of friends mentioned specific types of experience that cannot and ought not be ignored, including experience that can challenge long and deeply held theological convictions. […]
When I was growing up in church, I learned that what we believed was certain, so much so that we wondered how it was that anyone could doubt. This was so ingrained in my thinking that I recall reacting with shock when I read that evangelical Christianity, the kind that had shaped me, fell into […]
I wasn’t always a theology professor. I used to be a youth pastor, and I was also a chaplain and a family ministries pastor. I have been in the midst of messy life situations with people in turmoil. That’s why I am hurt by comments about being in an ivory tower, or by being called […]
I usually post about theological issues. This is a post about history, but as you will see, it is also about theology. Actually, everything is about theology. The problem is that people often miss that fact. As a theologian and preacher, I feel drawn to the lament issued by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians […]
The establishment of the biblical canon didn’t provide perfect clarity, nor did it eliminate disagreements. However, it did provide a common resource for Christians to consult, and it is the basis of the tradition of theological reflection that the Church has cultivated over the centuries. In sum, the Bible is where we go to gain […]
(This material is left over from an article I recently wrote for the Mennonite Brethren Herald. Since I hate wasting things, I am putting it here.) I once heard a speaker make a pithy quote about the object of his faith. He said that “I believe in the Word of God. His name is Jesus.” […]
It may seem that the frustration expressed by people wanting to discuss LGBTQ+ inclusion is an indication that conversation about LGBTQ+ inclusion is unwelcome. I am sure that there are people who would like to have more conversation, and the sooner the better. But it would be an overstatement to suggest that conversations are unwelcome, […]
I recently wrote an article for my denominational periodical, the Herald. One blog post about it elicited a number of responses and questions, so I am replying to them here. These are my thoughts — no one else’s. And since I am only one person, I am posting one reply rather than inviting a prolonged […]
Jesus established his church, and pronounced that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18) In case anyone needs to be reminded, this is not a statement about the defensive strength of the church Christ is building, but rather a statement reflecting that the church will grow and prevail. Gates are portals […]
There is a particular mode of political organization and rhetoric that has manifested itself in Canada and the United States, increasingly in the past century or so, although it has existed for centuries. It is not unique to North America; there are examples in history all over the world. But to give focus to the […]
For many white North American evangelicals, the basic assumption that capitalism is Christian and socialism is hostile to Christian faith has been an unquestioned assumption. This is an expectation that is grounded in beliefs about major developments in European politics from the nineteenth century. New socialist movements, especially the form of socialism developed and championed […]
I’m in a course planning and preparation phase lately, so I am doing some reading. I read a chapter of Jacques Ellul in preparation for a meeting about a course on culture, media, and theological formation that I am co-teaching. Just now I was skimming through Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn was […]
Jesus absorbed the wrath of God on the cross. That is true, but let us understand that wrath means consequences, not anger. Let us not caricature God by portraying God is an angry despot who needs to have his anger satisfied in order to be able to love us. Not so! Rather, God made it […]
I think the problem is that familiarity really does breed contempt. What do I mean? When I joined the Mennonite Brethren, I was attracted by what I knew about the denomination, but I realized that there was much I did not yet know. Happy to learn that the MBs had a long tradition of theological […]
I didn’t grow up among the Mennonite Brethren. I was a pastor’s son in a number of Baptist denominations. I went to a Baptist seminary, and did my graduate studies at an Anglican college, while a member of an Alliance church. So how did I end up teaching theology among the MBs? Well, first, I […]
When I was growing up in church, the faith passed on to me was one that was clear and reliable. It left very little to the imagination, speculation, or intuition. I can recall a Campus Crusade tract that described how theology and spirituality related to one another. The image was of a train. The locomotive […]
My last post about the problems of seeing Scripture as a repository of propositional truth about God evoked questions that asked for examples, and one area of interest seems to be faithful sexual practice. My comments and opinions are my own, and they relate only to sexual practice among people who profess to be followers […]
I don’t think that propositional truth has the power that some Christians think it does. In fact, despite the fact the propositions have their place in theology, I don’t think that truth is very effectively communicated in propositions. It is certainly not contextualized in propositions in Scripture. Modern conceptions of propositional truth are based on […]
Christians who have spent any amount of time in church have heard exhortations to the effect that members of Christian communities are supposed to love one another, encourage one another, bear one another’s burdens, and, as needed, rebuke/exhort one another, among other things. The call we experience is to be disciples, people who live out […]
I have already blogged about the implications of Paul’s exhortations to the Roman Christians in Romans 14, but I think there is more to say. The question of what constitutes a faithful response to questions posed by LGBTQ+ believers and their advocates is a vexing one, and I freely acknowledge that Christians have responded very […]
If in my posts on sexuality it seems that I derive joy from writing what seems like a hard line, or from being the bearer of what, for some, seems like a difficult message, please let me assure you that this is not the case. I am not a fan of controversy for its own […]
Last week I wrote about surrender of my personal desires in pursuit of Jesus’ example. This week I want to talk about surrendering who I am — my very self-identity, on all levels — to Jesus the Christ as integral to being a disciple. My modest proposal focuses on two matters. The first is that […]
In the recent history of Christian discipleship, few issues have proven more controversial than consideration of how LGBTQ+ sexuality fits within the church, and how Christians who desire to live and reflect faithfully on the claims of Jesus the Christ should respond to people who profess a non-traditional sexuality or gender. It seems to me […]
I like to make coffee. I like to make it even more than I like to drink it (and I like that as well). I have heard that coffee is an acquired taste, and I tend to agree. I used to drink coffee made in a variety of places, and I noted that it was […]
What does it mean when we say that the bible was inspired by God? In fairness, despite our formulas, we can only speculate – our statements are only theories about what happens and how. But this is a fruitful exercise for two reasons. One is that thinking through the integration of our convictions about God […]
Browsing a free book table recently, I picked up a book entitled The Foundation of Biblical Authority, edited by James Montgomery Boice, dedicated to advancing biblical inerrancy. The foundation for the theological system evident in the book was believed to arise from a commitment to the inerrancy of Scripture. Evangelical leaders in the 1970’s were […]
At the 2019 Mennonite Brethren denominational conference on hermeneutics (the study of how to interpret Scripture, in case you wondered), a significant theme in the event was the authority of Scripture. The basic premise of biblical authority is that because the bible is inspired by God, the things we read in it about life and […]
A while back, I read an article by my friend Paul Cumin in the MB Herald, and I find much in it that resonates with me as an MB pastor and theologian. It intrigues and saddens me that I see the reputation that many evangelicals have (in the US, but also in Canada) as judgmental, […]
Another observation jumps out at me as I look at the next few verses that describe Jesus’ instructions to the disciples about what to expect when they enter Jerusalem. Again, it’s easy to overlook these things, but let’s look closer. The first thing the disciples were instructed to look for was a man carrying a […]
Okay, so what is the secret? Here it is. The reason I didn’t need to have the answers — the reason leadership is not about having the answers — is that no one is asking the question! When, in your life, did someone approach you to ask you why you were so hopeful? When did […]
For the past decade or so, I have had the privilege of teaching students at MB Seminary, part of ACTS Seminaries in Langley BC. Anyone who has known me for a long time might realize that I am an unlikely seminary professor. As a seminary student, I did not fit the typical profile of a […]
I frequently encounter people, often MB pastors, who would push MB ecclesiology toward a baptistic congregationalism. They are particularly wont to mention that MBs and Baptists found common cause in the early days of the MB movement — and they did. However, while Baptist church leaders taught Mennonite Brethren much, MBs did not swallow everything […]
What Are You Thinking? 