Greg Boyd
Why Christ, not Scripture, is Our Ultimate Foundation
Category: General
Tags: Belief, Cruciform Theology, Doubt, Scripture
Topics: The Church, Theological Method
In a previous blog I argued that all our theological reflection must not only be Christ-centered, it must, most specifically, be cross-centered. I now want to begin to unpack some of the most important implications of…
Determinism Is Ugly (June 2007)
Category: General
In the previous blog I celebrated the beautiful non-necessity of things. If you haven’t read it yet, you might want to before reading this one. Because in this blog I want to talk about a…
Is Your Church Promoting Tribalism?
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Kingdom, New Humanity, Racism, Tribalism
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues, The Church
It’s long been said that Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week. Sadly, many have taught us that homogeneity is the way the church grows the fastest. But should we put up…
The Religionless Church of the Future
Category: Essays
Tags: Church, Essay
Topics: The Church
“The time when men could be told everything by means of words, whether theological or simply pious, is over, and so is the time of…religion as such.… [W]hat is religionless Christianity?… What is the…
How Do You “See” God? God’s Self-Portrait, Part 1
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, God, Picture of God, ReKnew Manifesto, Seeing is Believing
Topics: Apologetics, Christology
When ReKnew first launched a year and a half ago, I planned on initially using the blog primarily to flesh out the theology and significance of the ReKnew Manifesto. As happens all-too-frequently in my ADHD…
How Reliable were the Early Church’s Oral Traditions?
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Essay, New Testament
Topics: Biblical Reliability
How reliable were the early church’s oral traditions? In terms of assessing the reliability of the Gospels, this is an extremely important question. First century Jewish culture was what scholars today would call an “orally…
What Does a Perfect God Look Like?
Category: General
Tags: Attributes of God, Classical Theism, God, Jesus, Open Theism
Topics: Attributes and Character
The “classical view of God” refers to the view of God that has dominated Christian theology since the earliest Church fathers. According to this theology, God is completely “immutable.” This means that God’s being and…
God’s War on War
Category: General
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
Though the OT portrays God as not only tolerating violence but also in many cases various narratives quote God as getting his hands dirty and actually promoting and commanding acts of violence, this is not…
The Future of Open Theism: From Antecedents to Opportunities (book review)
Category: Essays, General
Tags: Book Reviews, Books
Topics: Open Theism
a book review by Greg Boyd While there were many precursors to the movement, Open Theism first exploded on the scene as a controversial issue among Evangelicals in the wake of the 1994 publication of…
Can you have an Anabaptist Mega-Church?
Category: General
Tags: Anabaptists, Community, House Churches, Kingdom Living, Mega-Churches, The Meeting House, Woodland Hills Church
Topics: The Church
Several times over the last few years I’ve heard statements like this: “Boyd may embrace an Anabaptist theology, but his church (Woodland Hills) cannot be, by definition, an Anabaptist church because an Anabaptist church can’t be…
What is the significance of Esther 4:14?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
Verse: Esther 4
The wise Mordecai encourages Esther to bravely risk her life by pleading the case of the Jews before King Xerxes, saying, “…if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will…
The Worst Heresy That Never Got Anyone Burned at the Stake
Category: General
Tags: Calvinism, Enemy Love, Heresy, Love Your Enemies, Self-Sacrificial Love, Torture
Topics: Following Jesus
According to John’s Gospel, on the evening of his crucifixion Jesus clearly articulated the single-most important quality by which his followers would be recognized: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples,…
Jesus Said, “Buy a sword.” What did he mean?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Mennonerds, Non-Violence, Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
Yesterday, I challenged the common assumption that Jesus was violent when he drove out the animals and turned over tables in the Temple courts. (See post.) Today I want to look at the second episode…
A Very Brief History of Open Theism
Category: General
Tags: History, Open Theism, Theology
Topics: Defending the Open View
While the open view of the future has always been a very minor perspective, it has had its defenders throughout Church history and it has never been called “heresy” (until in mid 1990s when some…
God’s Ways Are Higher Than Ours
Category: General
Tags: Blessing, Kingdom of God, Love, Racial, Unity
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
A frequently quoted passage from the Old Testament comes from Isaiah 55. It reads: …my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways… As the heavens are higher than the earth, so…
Why Did God Require Animal Sacrifice in the Old Testament?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Animal Sacrifice, Atonement, Christus Victor, Forgiveness, God, God's Wrath, Satan
Topics: Christus Victor view of Atonement, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
Question: I have a question about the atonement. Why did YHWH in the OT demand that people sacrifice animals? And if these sacrifices anticipated the ultimate sacrifice of the Messiah, as the author of Hebrews…
Why Did Jesus Die on the Cross?
Category: General
Tags: Atonement, Christus Victor, Crucifixion, Jesus, Penal Substitution View of Atonement, Satan, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Christus Victor view of Atonement
If asked why Jesus had to die on the cross, most Christians today would immediately answer, “To pay for my sins.” Jesus certainly paid the price for our sins, but it might surprise some reader…
Do All Roads Lead to God?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Apologetics, Christianity, Debate, God, Jesus, Reasoning, Theology
Topics: Christology, Death and Salvation
First, if it’s really true that Jesus is the way to Father and that no one comes to the Father except through him, (Jn 14:6) then it seems that no other religious leader or religious…
Satan and the Corruption of Nature: Seven Arguments
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Essay, Problem of Evil, Spiritual Warfare
Topics: Creation Care, Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict, The Problem of Evil
Man…trusted God was love indeed And love Creation’s final law – Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shrek’d against his creed” —Tennyson, In Memoriam Tennyson nailed it. We trust that God is…
5 Ways the Bible Supports Open Theism
Category: General
Tags: Arminianism, Bible, Calvinism, Free Will, Open Theism
Topics: Defending the Open View
Open Theism refers to the belief that God created a world in which possibilities are real. It contrasts with Classical Theism which holds that all the facts of world history are eternally settled, either by God willing…