Character of God
God is Not a Monster
Category: General
Tags: Attributes of God, Character of God, God is Love, Jesus
Pastor Brian Zhand has a way with words that captures the imagination. And he is a pastor that has taken time to read the church fathers. In a recent post, he quotes Saint Antony who wrote, “I no longer…
Thankful for the Passion of God
Category: General
Tags: Attributes of God, Character of God, Classical Theism, God, Jesus, Thanksgiving
The classical view of God has 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 associated…
Creating God in Our Own Image
Category: General
Tags: Character of God, God, Greg Boyd, Jesus, Power, The Work of the People, Travis Reed
Topics: Attributes and Character
How have we created God in our own image? In this short video produced by The Work of the People, Greg reflects on various ways that humans typically think about God in terms of power, and how…
The Cruciform Trinity
Category: General
Tags: Character of God, Crucifixion, Jesus, Kenosis, Love, Trinity
Topics: Trinity
As paradoxical as it sounds, if God is supremely revealed when he stoops to the infinite extremity of becoming his own antithesis on the cross, then we must conclude that stooping to this extremity out…
Trying to Acquire What You Already Have
Category: General
Tags: Adam and Eve, Character of God, Contentment, Judgment, Lies
Topics: Following Jesus
Image by Joshua Earle The lies Satan told to Eve in the garden made eating from the forbidden tree (the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) look desirable. On the one hand, the lies caused…
God is Not What You Expect
Category: General
Tags: Attributes of God, Character of God, God is Love, Jesus
Jesus came, in part, to finally reveal the absolute truth about God. He is the way and the truth (alethia) and the life (Jn 14:6). The word “truth” means “uncovered.” And what we find once…
Is God Immutable? Part I
Category: Q&A
Tags: Attributes of God, Character of God, God, Jesus, time
Topics: Attributes and Character
For a number of reasons, Plato believed that something changes only to become better or to become worse (Rep. II). Since a perfect being can’t be improved or diminished, he argued, God must be completely…
Love and the Other Attributes of God
Category: General
Tags: Attributes of God, Character of God, God is Love, Love
Topics: Apologetics
If we keep our focus on Christ, we see that God’s power and God’s love are not two separate attributes, as many people assume. As I often state, love is not merely something God does;…
Why a “Christocentric” View of God is Inadequate: God’s Self-Portrait, Part 5
Category: Essays
Tags: Character of God, Cruciform Theology, Essay, God, Jesus, Love, ReKnew Manifesto
Topics: Christology, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
I’m currently working through a series of blogs that will flesh out the theology of the ReKnew Manifesto, and I’m starting with our picture of God, since it is the foundation of everything else. So…
Imaging God Wrongly: God’s Self-Portrait, Part 2
Category: Essays
Tags: Adam and Eve, Character of God, Essay, Idolatry, Imaginative Prayer, Picture of God, Religious Idolatry, Repenting of Religion, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Topics: Christology
Our relationship with God depends on the way we imagine God. When we get the image of God right, the doors open for us to trust and relate to God in the ways we were…
Getting Behind the “Letter” of Violent Portraits of God
Category: Essays
Tags: Bible, Character of God, Cruciform Theology, Essay, Hermeneutics, Jesus, Matthew Bates, New Testament, Non-Violence, Old Testament, Reformed Theology, Scripture, Violence
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
“I will do to you what I have never done before… in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents…” Ezek. 5:9-10 In my previous post I offered a brief review…