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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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? 