If our theology is threatened by the affirmation, inclusion, and empowerment of others, our theology is about control, not love.
02944 – Control vs. Love
read more
02645 – Old Testament Justice Teachings: Relevant?
Christians have learned not to see the relevance of the justice teachings of the Old Testament. Despite hundreds of references to justice and to the God of justice in the Old Testament, justice is not customarily an important part of our theology, ethics, or...
02505 – Telling vs. Showing
Telling people that God loves them is good theology. Showing people that you love them is what transforms the world.
02404 – No Gatekeepers to Jesus
The good news is that there are no gatekeepers to Jesus. People try to be. Pastors, theologians, churches, and others police theology, enforce legalism, and criticize people's faith. But God loves everyone even when Christians don't.
02357 – Extraordinary Love
The identifying characteristic which sets apart Jesus' genuine followers from the rest of the world is not wisdom, nor right theology, nor moral righteousness, nor social power; it is extraordinary love.
02326 – Women & Jesus
Unlike other men, Jesus spoke freely to women in public. He taught theology to women. He had women as disciples or followers. He was clear that women would be active participants in the work of his kingdom from Gender Roles and the People of God: Rethinking What We...
02085 – How Do You Understand God?
If your understanding of the divine made you kinder, more empathetic, and impelled you to express sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this was good theology. But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent, cruel, or self-righteous, or if it led you...
02030 – Good Theology Maintains Two Freedoms
Until I went to seminary, no one had taught me how to clean the lens of my awareness and perception. Studying the philosophy of Franciscan John Duns Scotus (1266–1308) for four years had a profound effect on me. Duns Scotus taught (admittedly in rarefied Latin) that...
01957 – Theology of the Gospel?
There can be no Christian theology which is not identified unreservedly with those who are humiliated and abused. In fact, theology ceases to be a theology of the gospel when it fails to arise out of the community of the oppressed.
01913 – Merely Applying Truths?
Sometimes the people who are most endangered by their own misbegotten rational capacities are Christians who have studied a whole lot of Bible and theology and think of themselves as merely applying the truths they have learned.