Month: April 2021

God’s Heart – 1 of 7

This is the first of seven Spreading Goodness reflections on Affective—“heart-based”—theology. We start with God’s heart—his relational disposition. The seventeenth century English Puritan Richard Sibbes took up this key theme as he wrote, “If God had not a communicative, spreading goodness, he would never have created the world. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were happy in …

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Affective Lives

“What do you mean by ‘affective theology?’ I’ve never heard of it before I met you.” This was the lead line of the Spreading Goodness entry for June 4, 2018. In that piece—and I invite readers to visit there—I explained why I adopted this uncommon phrasing. I also use the phrase “heart-based spirituality” to say the same …

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