Category Archives: Theology

The Person of Christ

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What would our theology look like if we started with the story of Jesus and sought to shape our theology around Jesus’ own hierarchy of values? In my essay, The Person of Christ, I contrast an approach to Jesus’ identity that centers on the gospels and their story of Jesus life with an approach that centers on official creeds and confessions. I suggest that the latter emphasis all too often leads to a “christological evasion of Jesus” and an approach that separates Christian belief from Jesus’ call to radical discipleship.

This essay is the second in a series that examines core Christian doctrines, consistently asking what shape they should take if they are articulated in light of Jesus.

What Is Theology?

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What are we doing when we “do theology”? In this essay, “What is Theology?” I argue that our theology has to do with the things in life that we value most. Christian theology should share the hierarchy of values that Jesus embodied–most clearly stated in his call to love God and neighbor. This essay is the first in a series that examines core Christian doctrines, consistently asking what shape they should take if they are articulated in light of Jesus.

The Lamb’s Way of Victory #3

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Most futuristic readings of the Book of Revelation base their “hope” on the destructive intervention of God in clearly predicted future events of judgment and punishment–events that born-again Christians will be raptured away from before they happen. In the sermon linked below (part of an on-going series), I critique that view and suggest a different basis for Christian hope.

Jesus’ first coming reveals all we need to know about God and God’s involvement with human beings. Our hope is based on the life-fullness of following Jesus’ path of persevering love in all of life, even unto death.

Sermon #3: “Power in Weakness”

Pacifism With Justice (15)

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It is more than a perverse attraction to warfare that makes pacifism unpopular in our contemporary world. The ways we are socialized to see the world themselves mitigate against pacifism. So we need to consider what aspects of the modern worldview in western culture underwrite violence. This is the focus of my essay, “A Pacifist Critique of the Modern Worldview,” which is part of my book in process, Pacifism with Justice: The Biblical and Theological Case.

Drawing on writers such as James C. Scott, David Abrams, Richard Tarnas, and Albert Borgmann, I critique this “modern worldview” for its seeing the universe as impersonal, its emphasis on dominating nature, and its rationalism–all factors that actually tend to underwrite violence.

Pacifism With Justice (14)

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Christian theology is both part of the problem and part of the solution with regard to violence against children. My essay, “The Theological Roots of Violence Against Children,” which is part of my book in progress, Pacifism with Justice: The Biblical and Theological Case, addresses this tension.

I suggest that a problematic “logic of retribution” characterizes the theology of evangelical writers such as James Dobson and Millard Erickson. This logic underwrites harsh practices of child discipline that actually teach children to be violent. Drawing on the work of Alice Miller and others, I argue for more peace-oriented approaches to relating to children that are ultimately grounded in biblical theology.

Pacifism With Justice (16)

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The peace epistemology of John Howard Yoder is the focus of the concluding essay in my book-in-progress, Pacifism With Justice: The Biblical and Theological Case. The essay, “Pacifism and Knowing: John Howard Yoder’s Epistemology,” argues that Yoder serves as a model for an approach to pacifism that understands this core conviction to shape the very way one views the world.

Seeing pacifism as a way of knowing shapes Yoder’s understanding of the gospel of Jesus and the relevance of Jesus’ life and teaching to all of life. Such an approach challenges Christianity to its core, suggesting that its core message is indeed a message of pacifism (which I define as the conviction that no value or commitment takes priority over the values of love, compassion, and caring for each human being).

Pacifism With Justice (13)

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Restorative justice is a recent movement in the criminal justice arena that has sought to foster more humane approaches to dealing the offenders. This essay, “Theology and Restorative Justice,” which part of my book-in-process, Pacifism with Justice: The Biblical and Theological Case, looks at the theological and historical roots of restorative justice and how its philosophy differs from standard, retributive approaches.

Pacifism With Justice (12)

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Where does violence come from? What about the desire for retribution? Are there theologies that undergird violence? These are crucial questions for constructing a theology of Christian pacifism. They are addressed in this essay,“Theology, Retribution, and the Ways of Peace”, part of my book in process: Pacifism with Justice: The Biblical and Theological Case.

The Present Relevance of Anabaptism

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These are two recent essays I have written reflecting on the present relevance for Christian theology and ethics of the 16th century Anabaptists.

They are: “Anabaptism for the Twenty-First Century” and “Whither Anabaptist Theology.” Both are included in my book, Embodying the Way of Jesus: Anabaptist Convictions for the Twenty-First Century(Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2007).