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 […]
What Are You Thinking? 