Essays
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…
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…
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…
Defining Love
Category: Essays
Tags: Augustine, God is Love, God's Character, Jesus, Non-Violence, Religious Violence
Topics: Attributes and Character
If God’s eternal essence is love, as discussed in this post, then we must ask: What does this confession actually mean? We must explore this question carefully because “love” has been defined in many theological…
The Source of Violence
Category: Essays
Tags: Blessing, Violence
When people think of violence, they think of physical violence. But the truth is that our actions are only violent because our hearts and minds are violent first. For this reason, Jesus emphasizes purging violence…
Anabaptist Response to the Attacks in Paris and Beirut
Category: Essays
Tags: Anabaptism, Bruxy Cavey, Non-Violence, Peace, Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
Our friend Bruxy Cavey, the pastor at The Meeting House in Toronto shares some thoughts on how to respond to the violence that is going on in the world. He writes: The Meeting House is…
What Is The Warfare Worldview?
Category: Essays
Tags: Blueprint Worldview, Essay, Evil, Free Will, Love, Providence, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Greg has written extensively on something he calls the Warfare Worldview. Many today believe that everything that takes place in the world is ultimately part of a divine blueprint and contributes in some way to…
Memorial Day
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Jesus, Kingdom Living, Non-Violence, Pacifism, Self-Sacrificial Love, Soldiers, War
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence, Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
For Memorial Day, we thought we would repost Greg’s thoughts from 2007. In this post, Greg expresses his conflicted feelings over this holiday and gives a brief defense of Christian pacifism. *** Hope you all had a…
Our Beautiful, Nightmarish World
Category: Essays
Tags: Beauty, Essay, Evil, Kingdom, Kingdom Living, Satan, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
The Bible consistently proclaims that the creation reflects the glory of God. To me, the truth of this proclamation is undeniable. When I was younger I several times went on three-week solo backpacking trips into…
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 Kingdom, Just War Theory, and Ukraine
Category: Essays
Tags: Augustine, Current Events, Enemy Love, Essay, Just War, Non-Violence, War
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
History textbooks often read like surveys of how countries handled war with other nations. The stuff between the conflicts reads like precursors and aftermath to the history-making actions of war. Now we observe the rising…