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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

(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 […]

In my last blog post (“Reasons to Think God Exists”), I noted atypical reasons to believe God might exist. Those reasons come after a yet-to-be-published discussion of traditional reasons people think God exists. Those typical arguments appeal to design, first cause, morality, religious experiences, and so on. In that as-of-yet-unpublished discussion, I also address reasons […]

Chad Bahl and I contributed a chapter to a massive handbook on postconservative interpretation. The book is aimed at college students, and our task was to sketch out an open and relational vision. Here’s what we wrote… Open and Relational Hermeneutics Open and Relational Theology (ORT) addresses key questions about biblical inspiration, interpretation, inerrancy, authority, […]

God is amipotent, not omnipotent. That’s been my argument in several books, but I made the case extensively in The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence.[1] It’s the idea pondered by 140+ essayists in a recently published, two-volume work called Amipotence. I believe theists should reject the notion that God is omnipotent. By omnipotent, […]

My heart sank when I heard that John B. Cobb, Jr. died on December 26, 2024. I’m told that he died peacefully, surrounded by family. John was one of the greatest theologians of our time, and his influence upon me is immeasurable. His death made me realize how much I looked forward to sharing with […]

I don’t think God wanted Donald Trump to be elected President of the United States. Of course, I’m not certain about this. Or certain about much of anything. So I could be wrong. But I evaluate this election the best I can. And a theology of uncontrolling love helps me do that. A theology that […]

It’s common for Christians to claim God inspired the authors who wrote the Bible. If God inspired the biblical authors, goes the thinking, then the Bible is inspired by God. Steven Hause recently asked me about biblical inspiration. In my response, I claimed that biblical authors get some ideas about God right, but other biblical […]