Latest Blog Entries

More Christians than ever are befriending advocates of other religious traditions. And many more Christians are learning about the beliefs in other religions. In light of this, Christians must reaffirm and clarify their claims about salvation.

Many Christians believe God does not necessarily relate to creatures. God at one time (or before time) existed alone – albeit as Trinity. Yet these same Christians believe they can count on God to love them. I don’t think there are good grounds to believe both ideas.

The Church of the Nazarene, as a denomination, must find its way anew. It must seek unity without legislating uniformity. It must celebrate diversity within its membership without its core principles becoming diffuse.

We live in changing times. We are changing people. Postmodern theology – rightly understood and discerningly appropriated – can be a resource for Christians in the midst of change.

The denomination in which I serve as an ordained minister, the Church of the Nazarene, celebrated its 100-year anniversary not long ago. Thriving in the next 100 years will require significant change.

Prominent Evangelical Christians are working together to reconcile apparent differences between science and religion. A recent workshop of such Christians in which I participated agreed to the following statement:

Given the many celebrations of Charles Darwin's life and work that are occurring this year, I decided to reread his most famous books. I especially like The Descent of Man. What Darwin says about morals in that book is truly provocative.

In 1994, a quintet of Evangelical scholars – David Basinger, William Hasker, Clark Pinnock, Richard Rice, and John Sanders – published The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God. This work has caused – and continues to cause – an uproar within Evangelical circles.

Truth is difficult, if not impossible, to fathom fully.  And yet truth seems so basic to life. In the book, Postmodern and Wesleyan?, which I edited with my colleagues, Jay Akkerman and Brent Peterson, I try to address what we might want to say about Truth in a postmodern world. I write in an accessible way so that a wide audience might engage the conversation. Let me know what you think…

Delegates to the 2009 Church of the Nazarene general assembly approved several changes to the denomination’s statement on entire sanctification. I am generally pleased with the changes. Almost all of them pertain to concerns that I and others have raised. In this essay, I note some of the changes I like. But I also list changes I think are still needed.