Posts under "Open and Relational Theology"

The Worship Problem

June 28th, 2023 / No Comments

Theists in general and Christians in particular often worship a God they call “omnipotent.” This practice creates profound problems. In The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence, I address those problems. In one chapter, I focus on lyrics and liturgies that proclaim God as all-powerful. My argument: they implicitly endorse abusive politicians and policies. […]

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My Response to Sanders on Omnipotence

June 6th, 2023 / No Comments

I want to thank my friend John Sanders for his thoughtful critique of my recent book, The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence. See that critique here. In the following, I respond to John. His comments push me to be clearer, but I’m not convinced by his criticisms. I continue to find my arguments […]

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The “Almighty” Problem in Scripture

May 26th, 2023 / No Comments

In my book The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence, I explain how omnipotence and almighty are not rightly associated with scripture. In this essay, I lay out the problem with English translations of the New Testament that call God “almighty.” Almighty Is Rare “Almighty” appears ten times as a translation of Pantokrator in […]

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7 Reasons Omnipotence Leads to Atheism

May 15th, 2023 / 4 Comments

Evil The experience of evil leads millions to unbelief and most believers to bewilderment. Worshipping God as omnipotent implicates the Almighty as either causing or permitting horrendous events and unnecessary suffering. An omnipotent God is guilty. In my book, The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence, I explore why believing God is omnipotent makes […]

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Can God Decide to Stop Giving Life?

May 1st, 2023 / No Comments

At the conclusion of The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence, I address the question in this essay title. It comes in my discussion of amipotence, which is the power of God’s uncontrolling love. The Spirit Gives Life The divine Spirit provides integrity, agency, self-organization, and freedom to all creation, depending on their complexity. God gives robust […]

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Love Before Power

March 13th, 2023 / No Comments

In my forthcoming book, The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence, I argue that God’s power is the power of love. And love comes first in God. In previous blogs, I’ve identified reasons we should stop saying God is omnipotent. And I wrote an essay on why “amipotence” is a good alternative. I’m not the first […]

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Amipotence

February 24th, 2023 / 2 Comments

I’m working on the final chapter of a new book called, The Death of Omnipotence… and Birth of Amipotence. In previous blogs, I’ve identified reasons we should stop saying God is omnipotent. The final chapter in this new book explains the word “amipotence.” Amipotence combines two Latin words ami and potens. The first means “love,” […]

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God’s Nature Qualifies Omnipotence

February 10th, 2023 / 3 Comments

As part of a book I’m writing called The Death of Omnipotence …and Birth of Amipotence, I’m devoting a whole chapter to the qualifications scholars make to omnipotence. The chapter is called “Death by a Thousand Qualifications.” As the title of the chapter suggests, I note thousands of qualifications necessary to make any sense of […]

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Omnipotence Not in Scripture

November 27th, 2022 / 6 Comments

I’m currently writing a book that rejects the doctrine of divine omnipotence. I’ll suggest a replacement I call divine amipotence – the power of love. I introduced the writing project in this previous blog essay. One chapter in my book addresses God’s power described in what Christians call the Old and New Testaments. I’ll argue […]

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