Latest Blog Entries

Most Christian theologies restrict divine love. According to many, God only expresses agape. According to others, God only expresses eros. Some theologies may say God expresses hesed but cannot affirm divine ahavah. Other theologians mix and match love, depending on their philosophical and theological assumptions. In my new book, Pluriform Love, I argue that God […]

I’ve written a book that ties together many of my primary thoughts about God and love. It’s called Pluriform Love: An Open and Relational Theology of Well-Being. The preface of Pluriform Love gives the background story to its writing. And it provides a taste of some of the book’s primary ideas. I thought I’d share […]

I think about love every day. As a Christian, l think love is the center of who God is and what God calls of me and others. As I see it, Jesus reveals love most fully. I also think love is pluriform. It’s not just helping the helpless, as important as that is. It’s not just […]

Philosophy always plays a role in Christian theology. This isn’t a bad thing; philosophy isn’t inherently evil. We’re all philosophers, in the general sense of thinking about things, and all theologies have philosophical assumptions. In fact, every statement about love – scholarly or not – incorporates philosophy, at least in the broad sense. Some philosophies […]

An adequate Christian theology of love offers a plausible solution to the problem of evil. Rather than appealing to mystery, it offers answers to the issue most atheists say prevents them from believing God exists.[1] Those answers also help theists make sense of God’s love in light of personal, systemic, and nonhuman evils. In my […]

In my forthcoming book, Pluriform Love, I propose a new theological category: Essential Hesed. In this essay, I offer an excerpt from the book. Much precedes this and much comes after. But I offer this as a taste of what Essential Hesed says… God’s Steadfast Love Is God’s covenantal, loyal, and steadfast love for creation […]

I’m excited about my book, Pluriform Love, which is coming out in February! It’s an academic book. I think of it as a follow-up to my book, The Uncontrolling Love of God. Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter… The Primacy of Love It’s not hard to make a scriptural case for the primacy of […]

I’m writing a book I’m tentatively calling, “Pluriform Love.” Part of the task involves looking at major theologies of love in Christian history. I’m looking at Augustine’s thoughts and criticizing them harshly. Here’s an excerpt… Use or Enjoy A subsection of Augustine’s classic book, Teaching Christianity, is titled, “God Does Not Enjoy Us, But Makes […]

Open and relational thinkers say the future does not exist. Because it does not, God can’t know with certainty what will happen in the future. Does this contradict the idea God is all-knowing? In Open and Relational Theology: An Introduction to Life-Changing Ideas, I say that God can’t foreknow with certainty everything that will occur. […]

Open and relational theology says God doesn’t foreknow everything that will happen in the future. If God did foreknow all with certainty, the future would be settled. A completely settled future is incompatible with our making free choices. Some hear this and think open and relational thinkers are saying God’s foreknowing would cause the future […]