Latest Blog Entries

Fifty years ago this month, Pope John XXIII initiated the Second Vatican Council. He said it was time to “throw open the windows of the church and let the fresh air of the spirit blow through.” It’s time to throw open the windows again!

The Bible is not only compatible with the idea God creates through evolution. I also think some themes in evolution actually reinforce and correspond with themes in Scripture.

My friends, Darrel Falk and Kathryn Applegate, are joining me to edit a book of essays on evolution. What makes this book especially interesting is that Evangelical leaders, theologians, and scientists write these essays, and they are largely in favor of the idea that God creates through evolution!

I completed my 2012 summer hike! I backpacked more than 1,100 miles in the Idaho wilderness, making photos and enjoying nature all summer long. It was a grand adventure!

In this, the final installment of my missional theology series, I look to the liberation and love a missional  God provides.

Now it’s time to reach for perhaps the most elusive fruit of all. It’s time to talk about the power of a missional God. We can’t ignore the power issue if we want a robust missional theology.

A robust missional theology has a Christological focus. And that focus undermines what many Christians from yesteryear assumed: God was impassible. Jesus reveals, instead, that we make a difference to God.

Missional theology offers an opportunity for sustained reflection on who God is. And it implicitly criticizes classical theologies that claimed God has no desires.

About forty students in my university class went the extra mile to show love. Their creative efforts made a difference!

The Wesleyan tradition in Christianity, with its high view of Scripture, has a fair number of people in its ranks tempted by fundamentalism. A new book should help Wesleyans resist that temptation.