Can God Decide to Stop Giving Life?
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 […]
Love is More than Desire or Devotion
In various publications and recently in Pluriform Love, I define love. My definition says love acts intentionally, in relational response to God and others, to promote overall well-being. Perhaps the most common alternative to my definition says love is desire. We find theologians and philosophers […]
Theology and Love… on Valentines
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 about being […]
Love and the Timeless God
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 – […]
John Wesley Says God Can’t
My recent book, God Can’t, makes the claim God can’t do some activities. Although this strikes some as unprecedented, John Wesley said it before I did. God Can’t in the Bible Biblical writers said “God can’t” before John Wesley and me. In various books and blogs, I’ve listed biblical passages that […]
Love and My Search for Meaning
On a cold February evening, I pulled up to my fiancé Cheryl’s apartment with plans to take her to dinner. As Cheryl got into the car, I turned and slowly shared with her something I had only recently admitted to myself. “I just can’t believe in God anymore,” I said. Cheryl and I were both religion […]
A Wesleyan Approach to the Bible
If we took John Wesley’s use of the Bible as central to describing a Wesleyan doctrine of Scripture, what would we conclude? The answer to that question resides at the center of my living and thinking. Randy Maddox on John Wesley Perhaps the leading Wesleyan theologian of our time, Randy Maddox […]
A New Uncontrolling Love Book!
A new book featuring 80+ essays on uncontrolling love has just been released. I’m impressed and humbled by this book’s publication! I’m impressed with Uncontrolling Love, because the six editors did a great job putting together this collection of writings. Pastors, scholars, students, activists, and […]
Does the Bible Say God Controls?
I’ve been in conversation lately with people thinking through my theology of God’s uncontrolling love. Many like my view that God cannot control others. But they think the biblical writers say God sometimes controls. Two examples of God’s alleged control often arise in our conversations. Both are […]
9 Reasons We Have Genuine but Limited Freedom
An essay I wrote has just been published. I argue humans and God have genuine but limited freedom. The new book is What’s with Free Will? Ethics and Religion after Neuroscience, edited by James Walters and Philip Clayton. The book responds to some neuroscientists who claim human free will is an […]