In this episode, Christian and Amy ask why white Evangelicals support Trump in such big numbers. As much as 77% of white Evangelicals support Trump. Why do they continue to support him? Do progressives share anything with Evangelicals besides the name Christian? They talk about the moral … Read more about The Moral Compromise of Supporting Trump
What is an Evangelical Today?
What is an Evangelical today? In this episode, Christian, Amy, and friends talk about evangelicals and evangelicalism. White Evangelicals were largely responsible for getting Trump elected. This seems very strange (to some of us), considering he is considered neither a Christian nor a moral person. … Read more about What is an Evangelical Today?
O is for Open & Relational
One of the most vibrant developments in Christian theology has happened in the past 50 years. The conversation is diverse and includes everyone from Process friendly Mainliners to Vatican II Catholics, from Emergent types to progressive Evangelicals - and plenty of others. These diverse … Read more about O is for Open & Relational
G is for Genre or Billy Graham got one thing wrong
Genre is by far the most important thing about the Bible that many Bible believing people don’t know. Empire is a close second but nothing matters more than genre when it comes to reading the Bible. Genre: A term that refers to different types or varieties of literature or media. In the … Read more about G is for Genre or Billy Graham got one thing wrong
No Need for Sunday: A Theory on the Making of Donald Millers
Far be it from me to theorize about a person, or make that person a type...but I'm going to for the sake of trying to process a couple things that appear to be endemic to evangelicalism as a church culture. I should say that while I haven't read much of his work, I like Donald Miller and this post … Read more about No Need for Sunday: A Theory on the Making of Donald Millers
Seductive Statistics and Evangelical Persecution Complex
An intriguing aspect of cultural conceptions has to do with importance of numbers. Empires have historically (and colonial projects more recently) have trusted in the power of quantification for both influence in shaping narrative and to fuel the imagination of the population. The ability to take a … Read more about Seductive Statistics and Evangelical Persecution Complex
TNT: Letters Edition
A cast of two halves! In the first half Bo and Tripp respond to 3 letters from listeners. Then we get a call with Micky Jones about choosing a seminary (43rd minute) - and when we come back for the 4th and final letter things get a little rowdy. It turns out the resurrection is a topic that … Read more about TNT: Letters Edition
‘Atheist Churches’ are more traditional than Emergents
I am loving the conversations that have come out of the publicity tour of Sunday Assemblies. The feedback and pushback that is being generated by these 'atheist churches' is proving very informative. I am actually learning a lot about how people think of church, atheism, tradition, and … Read more about ‘Atheist Churches’ are more traditional than Emergents
Apple Updates and the Church
I have been thinking about the church and technology a lot lately. Part of it comes from planning to update a sanctuary constructed in 1951. Some of it has to do with recruiting a team to handle all the tech stuff at 'church plant'. A bit of it came from the odd analogy that was used repeatedly … Read more about Apple Updates and the Church
Reclamation, Religion and Consumerism’s Bricolage: in conversation with Philip Clayton
A couple of weeks ago I had a very interesting conversation with Philip Clayton. Several of us went out for lunch after the High Gravity session on Religion & Science. We were at a restaurant where the walls were decorated with a busy collection of reclaimed signs, old pictures and repurposed … Read more about Reclamation, Religion and Consumerism’s Bricolage: in conversation with Philip Clayton
Literally Changing What It Means
Yesterday it came out that the definition of 'literally' was literally being changed in the dictionary. A CNN report said in places as informal as Google and as official as Mariam-Webster and Cambridge dictionaries it is now ""Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used … Read more about Literally Changing What It Means
The Limits of Labels
I have insomnia tonight - a rare occasion these days. I’m not in the mood to read any more about the use of Gadamer’s hermeneutical circle in Practical Theology so I brewed some coffee and revisited some of the online happenings from the past couple of months. I found 3 pairs of things that I … Read more about The Limits of Labels