Alan Kreider begins his marvellously titled book, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, with some striking observations about mission in the early church. Kreider notes that while the early Christians produced three texts on patience (Tertulian, Cyprian, Augustine), they did not produce a single text on evangelism. Furthermore, early Christians did not encourage their … Continue reading The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: A Summary
This piece comes in the wake of the First Reformed movie review and is my attempt to think through some of the themes and questions raised by that film, as well as gather my own thoughts on the issue of Christianity and Creation care. This is not about Climate Change The question of the … Continue reading Christianity, Creation and Climate Change
The following movie review is born out of a long email exchange I had with Jarrod, a friend I met through this blog. It was through the long emails that we sent back and fourth that I came to see just how profound a film this is. I have tried in this blog post, to … Continue reading First Reformed: Will God Forgive Us?
Introduction: Herod or God the Baby? In my last post, I contrasted the powerless way of God the baby, with the satanic way of Herod the King. For those with the eyes and ears to see, my post was filled with elusions to the failures of the Church. Indeed, this dichotomy of power versus weakness, … Continue reading A Theology of Weakness
The following piece is excerpted from a upcoming presentation I am doing on the Zeitgeist. In the presentation, I outline six categories: Technique, Deconstruction and Awareness, Alternatives, Despair, Ideologies and Longing. In this piece, I outline the first feature of the Zeitgeist, Technique. One of the most powerful features of the contemporary Zeitgeist is what … Continue reading The Ethos of Efficiency
One of the most profound sections of the New Testament is found in first Corinthians. The author writes: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. What is the message of the Cross? The message of the cross is that … Continue reading The Rationality of the Foolishness of Christ
There is an oft quoted line from Jacques Derrida, “There is nothing outside of the text.” By this he doesn’t mean that there is no real world, but rather, that all we can ever do is interpret. We can never get beyond interpretation to the pure realm of unmediated experience: to see is to interpret. … Continue reading Faith and Truth
