Essays
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…
What a Difference a Day Makes
Category: Essays, Guest Contributor
Essay by: Cameron Smedley “What a difference a day makes.” My grandmother used to say that. It was her almost daily response to the changing condition of her battle with cancer. It would be a…
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…
Why Church: In the Age of Decontructing, is the Church Worth Keeping?
Category: Essays, Guest Contributor
Essay by: Larissa Lee When I was growing up, there were a lot of prayers asking God for “revival”. I’m not sure what we were asking for, but I suspect it was some kind of…
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…
On Judgement
Category: Essays, Guest Contributor
An essay by Cameron Smedley. I often find myself walking through the world more as a judge of what’s wrong with this beautiful creation than basking in the miracle of it all. I get up…
3 Roots of Discrimination in God’s Church
Category: Essays, Guest Contributor
Topics: The Church
How Churches Can Serve Differently-Abled People Better Ministering based on physical observation is the opposite of compassion. Essay by Todd Lollar It might surprise you to know that secular areas of society are not the…
Inhale-Exhale
Category: Essays, Guest Contributor
Essay by Elizabeth Berget It was the drone of circling helicopters that woke me up at 5:15 on a Friday morning in May. I had slept fitfully, like a first-time mother, my bedroom windows open…
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…
The Logical Hexagon Made Simple
Category: Essays, General
Tags: Free Will, Open Future, Open Theism, Philosophy
Topics: Defending the Open View, Free Will and the Future, Providence, Predestination and Free Will
by: Greg Boyd The Hexagaon in a Nutshell For those of you who don’t have the twenty to thirty minutes it will probably take to read this essay but who nevertheless would like to have…
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…
The Case For Believer’s Baptism
Category: Essays
Tags: Discipleship, Essay, Kingdom Living
Topics: The Church
In this essay I briefly present my reasons for believing that baptism is intended only for people who are old enough to responsibly choose to become disciples of Jesus. I will first offer several biblical…
What are the different models of the Trinity in the Christian tradition?
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, God, Trinity
Topics: Theological Method, Trinity
The Psychological and Social Models of the Trinity The Bible teaches that there is only one God. At the same time, it teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each fully God. For…
Is the Book of Acts Reliable?
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Bible, Essay, New Testament
Topics: Biblical Reliability
(Note: We apologize that certain German vowels didn’t translate onto this site). Introduction The book of Acts is of critical importance in the contemporary debate about the historical Jesus. The reason for this is straightforward….
The “Christus Victor” View of the Atonement
Category: Essays
Tags: Atonement, Church, Essay, Jesus, Spiritual Warfare
Topics: Christus Victor view of Atonement, Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
God accomplished many things by having his Son become incarnate and die on Calvary. Through Christ God revealed the definitive truth about himself (Rom 5:8, cf. Jn 14:7-10); reconciled all things, including humans, to himself…
Inconceivable!
Category: Essays, General
Tags: Humility, Knowledge, Philosophy
Though it’s now thirty-one years old, I’m willing to bet that the majority of you have watched the Princess Bride at least once. In fact, I’m willing to bet that a lot of you have…
The Point of the Book of Job
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Bible, Essay, Old Testament, Problem of Evil
Topics: The Problem of Evil
The point of the book of Job is to teach us that the mystery of evil is a mystery of a war-torn and unfathomably complex creation, not the mystery of God’s all-controlling will. Given how…
THE ONE NEED
Category: Essays, Guest Contributor
For all the worth of teleology, history, and morals, this for me is the most compelling evidence of Christ: We have a million needs and desires, and a million things put us in want. From…
The Case for Women in Ministry
Category: Essays
Tags: Church, Essay, Women In Ministry
Topics: The Church
Kathy’s Struggle with Temptation Kathy was one of the brightest students I ever had when I taught Theology at Bethel University. She asked insightful questions and often contributed to lively class discussions. The time and…