Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
The newspaper editorial was scathing. The writer charged insecure white evangelical Christian men in America with hypocrisy in electing a conspicuously broken president. A “morally destitute, insecure narcissist.” The writer’s thesis is that we—I’m an evangelical Christian man—made a bargain with the devil in an effort to restore our former social hegemony in the country. …
Read More Bargaining with the DevilPaul held Abraham to be the father of faith in both Romans 4 and Galatians 3. Let’s turn to Genesis 11 to 25 to see what Paul had in mind. Abraham’s story centers on God’s promise to the patriarch in 12:1-3—“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your …
Read More Promise & PatienceWho is God to you? And more specifically, what role does the Holy Spirit have in your faith? We can agree, of course, that talk about the Spirit can be confusing. While the titles of Father and Son are familial and familiar terms, the Spirit seems more nebulous. He’s presented as one who hovers over …
Read More Spiritless spiritualityI was with Mark at his son’s college graduation—with James receiving his bachelor’s degree in computer science. At some point in the pleasant tedium of giving and receiving diplomas I started counting asterisks to see if they reached ten percent of the whole. These markers in the program noted special honors. Some asterisks indicated Cum …
Read More DistinctionsNobility is too often an orphan: an uncommon quality in local, national, or international news. And figures we have admired like Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, or Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger are now figures of the past. Even though nobility is available to all of us. I’m reading Isaiah right now and in the early chapters of …
Read More NobilityHere’s something from a college Ethics course I taught some years ago: a case study in how we do decision-making. I hope you find it useful. Most of us are informal Stoics. We view decision making as an exercise in logic and choosing. That, in turn, sets up our view of ethics—that we become good …
Read More Cleaning the GarageLet’s think about Genesis 12-16—of God’s promise of a son to Abram and Sarai. This son extended God’s blessing promise made to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15. And, as we now know, the birth anticipated a son born of Abram’s lineage centuries later: Jesus, the Son of God. The plan started badly. As the …
Read More A Problem“What do you mean by ‘affective theology?’ I’ve never heard of it before I met you.” It’s a fair question. I first found the label in Heiko Oberman’s The Dawn of the Reformation where he wrote of fourteenth-century Christians whose “suspicion of speculation” led them away from prior theological streams. They preferred “an affective theology …
Read More Affective SpiritualityJesus aligned himself with the truth as the personified pathway to life in John 14:6—“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” He elevated his invincible life even in the face of crucifixion. Jesus clearly meant to reassure disciples both then and now. Yet there are different approaches to truth—even among believers. One …
Read More Loving the TruthI’m reading and rereading books on Christian spirituality these days. It comes with my prepping to teach on the subject. With that as context I’ll offer a brief reflection on two widely appreciated works that promote spiritual transformation. One, Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, lists disciplines under the headings of Inward, Outward, and Corporate. The …
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