Thoughts on Everyday Theology
Articles exploring the implications of faith
Beyond Authorial Intention: What Does a Text “Really” Mean?
This post explores how the philosopher Paul Ricoeur influenced the way we think of interpretation. What follows is a purely philosophical journey: I do not draw any theological implications, but it should hopefully become clear that there are important ones to be...
The Goodness of God and the Theology of Suffering
“If Jesus could heal a blind person he happened to meet, then why not heal blindness?”[1] This, for Christopher Hitchens, was one of the simple, obvious questions marking an intelligent person’s path away from faith. It was his way of describing one of the most common...
What is Belief?
Belief is not about what you intellectually consider correct: it is an orientation of your entire life towards a target.
The New Year and the Christian view of Time
Three ways the Gospel transforms our understanding of time and sets us free from bondage, regret and anxiety.
What’s the goal of Apologetics?
Lance’s recent post on “The End of Apologetics?” stirred up some controversy in the social media world. His assertion that “Apologetics that seek to provide analytic or scientific defences simply don’t work” sparked several reactions. Someone critiqued the use of...
Beyond the Gender Wars: on Being Towards the Image of God
Many of the biggest controversies in churches today are related to gender & sexuality. Can women take positions of church government? Is homosexual marriage acceptable for Christians? Should church leaders be celibate or married? These questions are enormously...
Biblical Authority and the Primacy of Experience
This is my “first draft” attempt to explain my reasons for believing in the authority of Scripture. It’s quite raw and probably has some gaps that need filling. I would welcome any thoughts on how it could be improved.
What does it mean to consider the birds?
Several people have said to me that in my last post I did nothing but raise questions without offering answers. I had written that we need to think about why we trust the Bible, but I didn’t say what my own reasons were for doing so. To demonstrate why I thought the...
Why do we trust the Bible?
Traditionally, Evangelicals have made the Bible the basis of all their theological beliefs. The final call, the ultimate standard for whether to believe something is whether “the Bible says so.” Even when something seems nonsensical, absurd, or just enormously...
You’re wrong! Do you know why?
I am the kind of person who tends to think I’m right about everything. I have great confidence in my own correctness, remarkably unfettered by past experience. I may have been wrong before, but NOW at last I’ve figured it all out! Of course, on some level we all tend...