Posts under "Open and Relational Theology"

The “Stuff” of Divinity

June 10th, 2026 / No Comments

When recently speaking in the UK at various universities, churches, and retreats, the issue of God’s “stuff” came up. That is, what is the being, ontology, or stuff of divinity? Some people think of God as personal, others as impersonal, some as a force, others as a concept or set of relations. I like to […]

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A Realistic Theory of Miracles

April 8th, 2026 / 2 Comments

In my recently published Systematic Theology of Love (Vol. 1), I address the complex issue of miracles. This essay offers the heart of my argument, which is based upon amipotence, or what I call the uncontrolling love of God. A number of problems arise when assessing the nature and occurrence of miracles. Some problems arise […]

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Responding to 150+ Amipotence Essays

January 5th, 2026 / No Comments

In early 2025, two massive volumes of edited essays were published exploring the idea of amipotence. Between the two books, there are 150+ essays! The first of the two volumes is titled Amipotence: Support and Criticism. The second is Amipotence: Expansion and Application. Essayists responded to my book, The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of […]

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Where Was God in the Shootings?

September 1st, 2025 / 6 Comments

The recent shooting at a back-to-school mass in Minnesota has many people asking: Where was God? A gunman killed two children and injured eighteen others at Annunciation Catholic Church. In response, there’s a renewed call for gun reform and a dialogue about how to prevent future shootings. Many also wonder why an allegedly omnipotent God […]

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The Spirit as a Relational Person Who Feels

August 8th, 2025 / 2 Comments

It’s obvious to many believers that God is personal, relational, and experiences emotions. Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scriptures routinely describe deity in this way.[1] These abilities and attributes also seem required if the Spirit is loving, because lovers are persons who act and feel in relationships. It makes sense, therefore, for this systematic theology of […]

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The Amipotent God is Neither Externally Nor Voluntarily Limited

July 23rd, 2025 / No Comments

In my systematic theology of love, I argue that believers should reject the idea God is omnipotent. They should embrace the notion that God’s power is uncontrolliong love. I call this “amipotence:” ami=love; potence=power. The amipotent view stands between two adjacent concepts of divine power. SECOND ALTERNATIVE TO AMIPOTENCE One concept says God’s power is […]

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Introducing Gino-Theology

July 13th, 2025 / No Comments

In a recently published Substack essay, I looked at arguments for and against saying God is a being. I propose a new way to think about God I call “gino-theology.” In that Substack essay, I argued that we best think of God as an everlastingly becoming Spirit. That’s gino-theology. By “becoming,” I mean the Spirit […]

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A UNIVERSAL, INCORPOREAL, SPIRIT

June 3rd, 2025 / No Comments

(This is chapter four of my systematic theology of love in progress. I’d love to get your suggestions on how the chapter might be improved. That might include suggestion citations, ideas, grammar changes, and more. Paid subscribers will get a signed copy of the published book and will be mentioned in the book’s acknowledgments. Click […]

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