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Posts from the “Theology” Category

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Posted on February 12th, 2012

Theology has come under attack. Having lost their way, many would-be theologians have resigned themselves to pursuing two other projects: Dogma - a life of trying to prove the unprovable through propositional statements of faith Piety – a shunning of Christian ideas and images in favor of simply trying to “live the Christian faith.” Although many have tried and tried, neither course has shown the capacity to bring together the Body of Christ. In this digital monograph, Theology Is Art, I contend that for theology to fulfill its true purpose and potential it must be understood as an art form. Not law. Not science. Art. Law wants to limit and lock down. Science wants to define and demarcate. Art wants to suggest and set free. Synthesizing the contributions of the great…

Categories: Ebooks, Theology

Tagged: amazon kindle, friedrich schleiermacher, pdf ebook, statements of faith, susanne langer

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Good theology, Bad theology

Posted on February 8th, 2012

Within the first 18 months of arriving at the church I previously served, 12 different people decided to leave. When the average attendance of a congregation is around 100, 12 people is a lot of people. Some of them quickly slipped out the door while others drug out the process of their departure, but every single person made it clear that the major (if not only) reason they were leaving was because I believed “that everyone was going to go to heaven.”* To a person, they could not get it through their heads why I would preach about God’s grace the way I did – a way that (to their minds) absolved individuals of making a decision to be and behave in a way that…

Categories: Theology

Tagged: ethics, fred phelps, golden rule, good samaritan, grace and peace, love your neighbor, westboro baptist church

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Mama’s Boy (reflections on a “masculine Christianity”)

Posted on February 2nd, 2012

One of my favorite insults ever is “Mama’s Boy.” I find those who throw it around to be delightfully ignorant of a whole host of facts, realities, and relationships. They accuse these boys of not being able to function on their own. They mock these boys for choosing to be within protective distance of their mothers (physically or emotionally). Sure, I’ll grant you that developing a level of independence and autonomy is a great thing, but when I think about those who tried to insult me with this phrase as a young boy, well… Let’s just say I’m much more well adjusted than they are. Recently, (thanks to Rachel Held Evans) I became aware that Calvinist preacher John Piper decided to say that God…

Categories: Music, Spirituality, Theology

35 Comments

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Pooh Bear Jesus

Posted on February 2nd, 2012

As I was trolling Facebook recently I ran across a quote by Anne Lamotte: You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. My mentor refers to this kind of tendency as having a relationship with “Pooh Bear Jesus.” We’ve all had a relationship with Pooh Bear Jesus. Pooh Bear Jesus is lovey and cuddly. Pooh Bear Jesus makes us feel good when things are bad. Pooh Bear Jesus never judges us, never makes us uncomfortable, never asks us to do anything other than what we are currently doing. We are in control of Pooh Bear Jesus, and, so, Pooh Bear Jesus just smiles at us as he…

Categories: Theology

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A Progressive Call to Conscience

Posted on January 28th, 2012

One of my spiritual heroes, Fr. Richard Rohr, posted this quote on his blog yesterday: “Despite a certain trend towards conservatism in parts of the church and society, I am convinced that we have moved into a new era that will be determined by people who live by their own conscience and are particularly qualified to act as discerning members of community and society…the era in which almost everyone was content to be born and to live as a member of a certain church or ‘organized religion’ is over. The people who will shape the future of believers of all religions are those who have the courage to make their own choice, whatever pain may be involved, and to do so with personal responsibility.”…

Categories: Church, Spirituality, Theology

Tagged: adjacent possible, Bernard Haring, Call to Conscience, conservative, cosmology, epistemology, progressive, Richard Rohr, theology

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