Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
As we speak of God’s love what comes to mind for us? Is it a dose of sugar, syrup and all things sweet? Or is it rough, tough and as strong as steel? I hope the question and the comparison seems absurd! Love, and God’s love in particular, is a relational reality that invites more …
Read More Love as Syrup or as Steel?I’ve agreed to write a chapter on “Salvation in Christianity” for an edited study that compares Christianity to a competing faith system. In preparation I’ve surveyed the many uses of “saved” and “salvation” in the Bible. From my reading came a set of questions I’m still trying to process. What, for instance, are we saved …
Read More The Solution to SinWe’ve all seen occasional comics of a robed and bearded street preacher with a placard sign that reads, “Repent, the end is near!” Usually there’s a punchline of some sort that makes the prophet of doom seem silly. Yet, as with most caricatures, there’s a kernel of truth in the mix. And, I suspect, there’s …
Read More Getting Repentance RightGod opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble—James 4:6. The context for James’ words were affective, located in God’s jealous longing for the spirit he made to dwell in us. Humility, James was saying, is at the heart of a proper relationship with God and it opens the door to a much deeper …
Read More HumilityToo many Christians, I’m afraid, have the disaffected God of the Greek philosophers in mind when they pray or when they plan their day. The Greek versions of God are all about power—about having control over everything—rather than about his forming and sustaining relationships with a treasured creation. The full post has been published in the …
Read More A Passionate GodSome—maybe most—of the dear people in a class at church today were startled when I said, “I don’t believe in a free will.” Yet many readers, especially former students, may smile or yawn: “Not again!” Why? Because each year in Patristic Theology I would explain Augustine’s view of the will in his debate with Pelagius. …
Read More I Believe in FreedomI read a troubling newspaper article on the internet today. It was one of the “most read” items and it spoke of a Christian writer who recently announced her departure from the church. The report included a summary of what disturbed her and what, for many of us, is tragically obvious: “But judging by the …
Read More Called to Christ’s LikenessLewis Ayres in Nicaea and its Legacy offers a helpful summary of the “pro-Nicene” theology of fourth century church leaders. The Council of Nicaea (in 325) set out an acceptable manner for speaking of God’s oneness while still affirming his eternal distinctions as Father, Son, and Spirit. Yet the debate over how best to speak …
Read More Speaking of the TrinityEveryone has a read on God of one sort or another. The question of how we read God also has an applied element. Our view of God shapes the way we live; and, obversely, the way we live exposes our actual reading of God no matter what we say we believe. This is a point …
Read More Reading GodThis week is the first in a new fortnightly cycle for Spreading Goodness posts: I’ll offer an entry here one week and then an entry on the Cor Deo blog I share with Peter Mead on the alternate week. I’ve already posted my entry of the week on Cor Deo. I invite readers here to check it out. Go to: http://www.cordeo.org.uk/finding-community/
Read More Which Community?