Posts
How should evangelicals “do” theology?
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Theological Method, Theology
Topics: Theological Method
A central debate among evangelical theologians concerns the question of theological method. In other words, how should we “do” theology? All evangelical Christians believe the Bible is God’s inspired revelation. Thus, evangelicals agree that Scripture…
Response to the September 11th attacks
Category: Essays
Tags: Current Events, Essay, Free Will, Open Theism, Predestination
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues, The Problem of Evil
Was God Punishing Us? Since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th, many people have asked the question, “Why did God allow this to happen?” In response, some Christian…
Response to Bruce Ware’s “Defining Evangelicalism’s Boundaries: Is Open Theism Evangelical?”
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Open Theism
Topics: Responding to Objections
The following essay was written in response to Bruce Ware’s article, “Defining Evangelicalism’s Boundaries: Is Open Theism Evangelical?” Published in The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, June 2002. Introduction I want to begin by…
A Brief Outline and Defense of the Open View
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Open Theism
Topics: Defending the Open View, Open Theism What it is and is not
While many Christians have found the open view of the future to be the most helpful and accurate view of God’s foreknowledge of the future based on biblical, philosophical, and experiential evidence, others have criticized…
Scientific Support for the Open View
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Open Theism
Topics: Defending the Open View
If a position is true, every avenue of reflection ought to point in its direction. What follows are two more “pointers” to the view that the future is at least partly open (indefinite, composed of…
Neo-Molinism and the Infinite Intelligence of God
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Open Theism
Topics: Defending the Open View
Classical Molinism holds that, since God is omniscient and knows all truths, he knows not only what every agent will do in the future, but also what every agent would have done in every other…
Five Brief Philosophical Arguments for the Open View
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Open Theism, Philosophy
Topics: Defending the Open View
Introduction I believe that sound philosophical arguments support the open view in which God doesn’t foreknow the future free decisions of humans. My main reasons for holding this view are biblical and theological, but since…
Finding an Alternative Jesus
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Essay, Jesus
Topics: Jesus: Lord or Legend
The “Newly Discovered” Jesus One of the most common, and most disturbing, refrains heard in the media’s coverage of contemporary radical views of Christ is that New Testament scholars have recently “discovered” new sources of…
The Jesus Seminar and the Reliability of the Gospels
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Essay, Gospels, Jesus, New Testament
Topics: Jesus: Lord or Legend
The Jesus Seminar The primary driving force behind the popular media’s present preoccupation with liberal views of Jesus has been the Jesus Seminar. This Seminar, first convened in 1985 by Robert Funk, is a gathering…
Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Essay, Resurrection
Topics: Jesus: Lord or Legend
Trying to get around the Resurrection While Jesus’ life, claims, and miraculous ministry set him far apart from all other human beings, it is his resurrection more than anything else that stamps him as the…
Is Jesus Unique?
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Essay, Jesus
Topics: Jesus: Lord or Legend
The Search for a Non-Unique Jesus Built into the naturalistic assumption that drives the liberal New Testament search for the “man behind the myth” is the notion that, whoever Jesus was, he cannot have been…
Six Theses of the Warfare Worldview
Category: General
Tags: Spiritual Warfare, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
The trinitarian warfare worldview seeks to reconcile our experience of radical evil with the conviction that reality is created and sustained by an all-loving, all-powerful God. Six principles form the foundation for this view. These…
The Stillborn God
Category: General
Hello virtual friends of the wonderful internet reality, Hope you all had a great Christmas. Mine was exhaustingly delightful. It’s a bit ironic, but on Christmas Eve I starting reading a book entitled The Stillborn…
Merry Christmas!
Category: General
I and my Christus Victor Teamwant to wish all of youwho occasion this blogand support this ministrya veryMerry Christmas. Be blessedGreg
What are the main principles of the warfare worldview?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Q&A, Spiritual Warfare, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
In my book God At War (IVP, 1997) I flesh out what I call the “warfare worldview” of the Bible. This is the view that the world is a battle ground between God and good…
Why have you consistently stressed the need for the Western Church to learn from the African Church?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Church, Diversity, Q&A
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues, The Church
Question: I’ve heard you argue that the white Western church has a lot to learn theologically from African cultures. What is it specifically that you’re referring to? Response: I do strongly believe that the western…
In your Anabaptist view, should Christians get involved in politics at all? Do you think they should even vote?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Politics, Q&A, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Ultimately, each person must follow their conscience when it comes to whether or not they vote, how they vote if they decide to vote, and the extent to which they should involve themselves in the…
Getting Free From the Sin of Sodom: Living With Outrageous Generosity
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Kingdom Living, Wealth and Responsibility
Topics: Following Jesus
Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. Erich Fromm Jesus, the poor and the greedy Though it’s often missed by American…
What do you think of the classical view that God is impassible?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Classical Theism, God, Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Attributes and Character
The classical view has historically held that God is impassible, meaning he is above pathos (passion or emotions). The main reason the church came to this view was that, following the Hellenistic philosophical tradition, they…
Do you believe God is pure actuality?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Classical Theism, God, Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Attributes and Character
The basis of the classical view of God as pure actuality (actus purus) is the Aristotelian notion that potentiality is always potential for change and that something changes only because is lacks something else. So,…