Latest Blog Entries

Civilization today is increasingly shaped by machines and technology. While machines can be helpful, their benefits can tempt us to think we, other creatures, and the world are machines. And we can be tempted to think technology is our savior. I’ve recently been thinking about civilization writ large. The ecological crisis, my engagement with Institute […]

My recent book, God Can’t, makes the claim God can’t do some activities. Although this strikes some as unprecedented, John Wesley said it before I did. God Can’t in the Bible Biblical writers said “God can’t” before John Wesley and me. In various books and blogs, I’ve listed biblical passages that explicitly say God can’t […]

A “Four Views” book has just been published exploring God’s im/passibility (IVP Academic). I wrote one of the four essays. Instead of “passible” or “impassible,” most people today use the words “relational” or “nonrelational” to talk about whether creatures influence God. Relational theologians like me wholeheartedly affirm the idea God engages in giving and receiving. Others makes a difference […]

This year marks the 25th anniversary of a book that continues to influence many: The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God (IVP). By “openness of God,” the authors mean God experiences the ongoing flow of time. Like us, God faces an open and not yet settled future. No one, […]

Open and relational theologies say God enjoys moment-by-moment experiences in relationship with others. This important idea affects how these theologies think about God’s knowledge. Open and relational theologies take seriously the reality of time’s forward flow. Not only is existence fundamentally in process, but God also experiences the process of time. God is timefull not […]

Most Christian theologies assume God is essentially timeless. This timeless God foreordains or foreknows all that will ever occur. For these theologies, “divine providence” means God acting with the end already settled. Open and relational theology thinks God is timefull, not timeless. How we think about God’s relation to time makes a big difference in […]

I’ve been asking lately what fundamental ideas we need to establish a loving civilization. By “loving civilization” I mean what Christians often call “the kingdom of God.” I think it’s possible for civilization to become oriented around love. In a previous blog, I argued that the “kingdom of God” phrase has liabilities. I’m not the […]

The New Testament phrases basilea theou and basilea ouranos — the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven — play central roles in how Jesus thought about God’s activity in society. I think these words might best be understood today as pointing to a civilization oriented around love. English-speakers often translate the first ancient […]

“Who is God?” Is there a question more difficult to answer? And is anyone more foolish than the one who thinks she can give a full and wholly accurate answer? In this brief essay, I will tread where angels fear to tread: I talk about God’s nature. I don’t pretend to offer a full or […]

I believe the natural world can be an arena for feeling God’s love. In fact, some outdoor enthusiasts say nature is their church. The idea nature is sacred may be why geological wonders are often called cathedrals, gardens of the gods, heavenly, or angels’ rests.