Last week, I examined the basic Christian message or Gospel that proceeds from the statement “God is love.” Perhaps trying to be too clever, I suggested everything else is commentary. My intention was simply to make clear that this message is always changing as it is applied to the particulars of the situation being addressed. […]
When I first tried to summarize the chapter on love last week, I wrote, “The seventh chapter of the book maintains that Christianity is all about love overcoming the violence of this world and that everything else is commentary.” I stewed about that for some time and finally changed “love” to “God’s love.” It better […]
I always thought of myself as a member of the “theology of the cross” school. Paul and Kerry, through brief exchanges on this site, have helped me see the limitations of this tradition, how it has led too many people to put themselves down as contemptible sinners unworthy of God’s grace. At least in our […]
Before turning to the specific contents of a modern Christian narrative it might be worthwhile once again to point out that this in no way distorts the Gospel message. To give thought to words and ideas that make sense to people living in our time is not surrender to worldly values or agendas. It is […]
A good way to review the Gospel of John is to take ten minutes for a read of the First Letter of John. It makes very clear what the evangelist is trying to say. It is clear that he is responding to doctrine he feels is false. However, he is not presenting a list of […]
What does John mean when he writes, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth…From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came […]
You could make a case that humanity’s greatest problem is fear. We do not follow Jesus, because we are afraid to let go of what we mistakenly think gives us security. Our authorities, even the best, work to keep us in fear, because if we are afraid, they can pretty much do anything they please. […]
If you think of creation only as the origin of the physical world, the New Testament has little to say about it. It does speak quite a bit about a broader concept of creation. It builds on the Old Testament’s understanding that God creates everything by uttering words. “In the beginning was the Word, and […]
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