Latest Blog Entries

The idea God needs our cooperation is more common in the Bible than most realize. Because many assume God can accomplish tasks and establish relationships alone, they overlook it. But sometimes translators are to blame. Romans 8:28 is a great example of translator decisions that hide the God-creature synergy present in Scripture. Those who know […]

A growing number of Christians see the need to care for creation. But most of these Christians affirm the ancient idea that God created the universe out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo). Does care for creation fit well with creatio ex nihilo? I don’t think so… I’ve been writing a book chapter for a new […]

If God’s love is uncontrolling, what does it actually do? Is God involved in our lives? Or is God like an object that inspires without directly affecting us? Something else? In a recent International Journal of Systematic Theology article, Kevin Vanhoozer offers a dialogue between John Webster’s views of love and my own. Kevin wonders […]

In a recent International Journal of Systematic Theology article, Kevin Vanhoozer offered a dialogue between John Webster’s views of love and my own. In one section, he wonders if my view of God’s uncontrolling love accounts for miracles, including the biblical claim that “even the wind and waves obey” Jesus. I think it does. Vanhoozer […]

Many Christians think God voluntarily chooses to love and relate with us, even though God could choose not to do so. I disagree. In this essay, I ask three diagnostic questions I think show that most Christians actually believe God must love and relate with us, even though they may say otherwise. In a series of previous […]

In my recent book, God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils, I address the topic of healing.  I’m not only interested in explaining how healing works. I’m also interested in explaining why many are NOT healed. To conclude one chapter, I summarized my main points. I provide […]

It seems that most Christians believe God is relational. I agree. Theologians call this “divine passibility.” But some Christians think God chooses to be relational, while others think God is relational by nature. Does it matter whether we believe God is relational by choice or by nature? Five Reasons to Affirm God is Essentially Relational […]

An increasing number of Christians believe God is relational. To be “relational” is, in the classical language, to be “passible.” It means that God is affected by others. I’ve written an essay for a new book on im/passibility, and I defend what the editors call “strong passibility.” In my language, I call this God’s essential […]

Some Christians believe God has no emotions. They believe this, in part, because they think only embodied beings have the capacity to express emotions. I think God can experience and express emotion. In a series of previous blog essays, I’ve argued that God is relational. By that I mean God gives and receives from creatures. […]

What should we do with the email folders of our deceased friends? I’ve been thinking about this question for more than a decade! And I’ve come to an All Saints Day answer. It somehow felt wrong to delete immediately the email folders of friends and acquaintances who have died. But as the years have passed, the […]