Cruciform Theology
A Dialogue with Derek Flood: Is the Bible Infallible?
Category: General
Tags: Bible, Biblical Authority, Book Reviews, Cruciform Theology, Derek Flood, Disarming Scripture, Infallibility, Inspiration, Non-Violence
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
I’m happy to see that Derek Flood has responded to my four part review of his book, Disarming Scripture. His response—and, I trust, this reply to his response—models how kingdom people can strongly disagree on…
Part 4: An Alternative Cross-Centered Approach
Category: General
Tags: Bible, Book Reviews, Cruciform Theology, Derek Flood, Disarming Scripture, Jesus, Magic Eye, OT Violence
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
Image by Karl Pang via Flickr As I mentioned in Part II of this review, I am deeply appreciative of the fact that Flood grasps the centrality of enemy-loving non-violence in Jesus’ revelation of God. And…
Are You Fully Alive? Here’s the Key
Category: General
Tags: Benefit of the Doubt, Cruciform Theology, Fully Human, Life to the Full, Love, Love of God, Trinity
Image by rashdada via flickr. The cross reveals the full truth about us. This truth reconnects us with our true source of life, which in turn heals our idol addictions. This dimension of the cross is frankly…
5 Differences Between The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the World
Category: General
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Enemy Love, Jesus, Kingdom, Kingdom Living, Love, Myth of a Christian Nation, Upside-Down Kingdom, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Following Jesus
Image by matthijs rouw via Flickr The kingdom of God looks and acts like Jesus Christ, like Calvary, like God’s eternal, triune love. It consists of people graciously embracing others and sacrificing themselves in service to others….
When God is Revealed
Category: General
Tags: Cruciform Theology, God, God's Character, Jesus, Relationships, Trust
Topics: Christology
Whether we’re talking about our relationship with God or with other people, the quality of our relationships can never go beyond the level of trust the relating parties have in each other’s character. We cannot…
Eye for Eye: That Time Jesus Refuted An Old Testament Teaching
Category: General
Tags: Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Jesus, Non-Violence
Topics: Christology, Following Jesus
One of the most surprising aspects of Jesus’ teaching is that, while he clearly shared his contemporaries’ view of the Old Testament as inspired by God, he was nevertheless not afraid of repudiating it when…
The Cross Above All Else
Category: General
Tags: Benefit of the Doubt, Communion, Cruciform Theology, Faith, Jesus
The way to know what a person or people group really believes is not to ask them but to watch them. Christians frequently say, “It’s all about Jesus,” but our actions betray us. Judging by…
The Cruciform Way of the Lamb
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Bible, Cruciform Theology, Jesus, Lamb of God, Non-Violence, The Work of the People
In this video, Greg offers insight into how to read the Bible with the cross at the center of the revelation of God, thereby reframing how we interpret the violent and nationalistic passages of the…
What Does Spiritual Warfare Have To Do with the Cross?
Category: General
Tags: Atonement, Cruciform Theology, Jesus, Spiritual Warfare
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Last week, we covered a few posts on the nature of the Atonement and the Christus Victor view. The following continues this theme, specifically looking the motif of spiritual warfare and how it relates to…
How To Talk about Theology
Category: General
Tags: Benefit of the Doubt, Cruciform Theology, Debate, Problem of Evil, Social Media, Theology
Topics: Theological Method
Social media is full of theological debate. Theological arguments that formerly took months or even years to get in print, now only takes the time to write a post or 140 characters and click “publish.”…
Cross-like Love and Non-Violence
Category: General
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Discipleship, Enemy Love, Kingdom Living, Love, Non-Violence, Pacifism
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Cosmo Spacely via Compfight Though it seems to have been forgotten by many today, the cross wasn’t simply something God did for us. According to the NT, it was also an example God calls us…
Sermon Clip: Does Romans 9 predestine you to Hell?
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Determinism, Free Will, Greg Boyd, Open Theism, Predestination, Responding to Calvinism
Did God predestine you to Hell? Can he even do that? In this short sermon clip, Greg Boyd talks about his own struggles when trying to understand Romans 9 which on the surface seems to…
How Revelation Uses Violent Images in an Anti-Violent Way
Category: General
Tags: Book of Revelation, Cruciform Theology, Non-Violence, Violence
All the violent scenes in Revelation are symbols for the battle of truth and deception. They never involve literal violence. In fact, they symbolize ANTI-VIOLENCE. The ingenious way John helps us get free of deception…
Does God Have a Dark Side?
Category: Essays
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Essay, Father, God, God is Love, Hell, Jesus, Wrath
Topics: Atonement and The Cross, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
In the previous post, I argued that we ought to allow the incarnate and crucified Christ to redefine God for us rather than assume we know God ahead of time and then attempt to superimpose…
What Kind of God Did Jesus Reveal?
Category: Essays
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Essay, God, Incarnation, Jesus, Love, Power
Topics: Atonement and The Cross
The ReKnew Manifesto exists to encourage believers and skeptics alike to re-think things they thought they already knew – hence our name, Re-Knew. I am currently working through the theology of the Manifesto in a series…
The Cruciform Center Part 4: How Revelation Reveals a Cruciform God
Category: Essays
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Essay, Jesus, Lamb of God, Non-Violence, Revelation, Self-Sacrificial Love
Topics: Apologetics, Atonement and The Cross, Christology, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
I’ve been arguing that, while everything Jesus did and taught revealed God, the character of the God he reveals is most perfectly expressed by his loving sacrifice on the cross. Our theology and our reading…
The Cruciform Center Part 3: How Paul’s Epistles Reveal a Cruciform God
Category: Essays
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Essay, Paul, Paul's Letters, Self-Sacrificial Love
Topics: Apologetics, Atonement and The Cross, Christology, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
As we’ve discussed, the four Gospels point to a cruciform revelation of God (click here and here for a review), but what about the most widely read writer of the New Testament? What did the…
The Cruciform Center Part 2: How John’s Gospel Reveals a Cruciform God
Category: Essays
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Essay, God, Jesus, John's Gospel, Love, Self-Sacrificial Love
Topics: Apologetics, Atonement and The Cross, Christology, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
In the previous post, we looked at how the Synoptics illustrate the centrality of the cross. While the Gospel of John varies in its structure and language from the Synoptics, the cross remains at the…
The Cruciform Center Part 1: How Matthew, Mark and Luke Reveal a Cruciform God
Category: Essays
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Essay, God, Jesus, Self-Sacrificial Love, Synoptic Gospels
Topics: Apologetics, Atonement and The Cross, Christology, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
In the previous series of posts I’ve argued that a merely “Christocentric” approach to God is too general, as can be shown by the widely different conceptions of God people arrive at, despite their claim…
The Image of Cross-Like Love: God’s Self-Portrait, Part 6
Category: Essays
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Enemy Love, Essay, God is Love, Kingdom Living, Love
Topics: Christology, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
In the previous blog I argued that God is cross-like love. In this blog I’d like to take this a step further by demonstrating why the cross alone could function as the definitive revelation of…