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June 2020

June 18, 2020

Why Kevin DeYoung’s “Culture War Strategy” Fails

The Gospel Coalition published an article by Kevin DeYoung decrying the Supreme Court decision that...

December 2019

December 13, 2019

Is David French or Mayor Pete Right About Christian Salvation?

My buddy Jason Micheli recently wrote about the gap between the Christianities of conservative evangelical...

November 2019

November 13, 2019

Why Isn’t Perfection In Love Good Enough For Wesleyan Theology?

As United Methodism approaches our denominational apocalypse at the May 2020 General Conference, I've come...

October 2019

October 09, 2019

How I Would Rewrite Desiring God’s “Joy” Tweet

A recent drama in Christian Twitter (several news cycles ago) involved the circulation of a...

February 2019

February 02, 2019

Nein! A Response to Jason Micheli On Sanctification and Sex

Jason Micheli is my closest frenemy who isn't openly Calvinist. I love Jason, but sometimes...

February 02, 2019

Nein! A Response to Jason Micheli on Holiness and Christian Sexuality

Jason Micheli is my closest frenemy who isn't openly Calvinist. I love Jason, but sometimes...

October 2018

October 31, 2018

Can Wesleyanism Evolve Or Does It Belong To The 18th Century?

The continuous meta-debate within the United Methodist debate is to ask: what are we really...

August 2017

August 03, 2017

How AA defines holiness

The entry in AA's Daily Reflections for today says, "Our real purpose is to fit ourselves...

July 2017

July 19, 2017

7 Ways I’m Not Entirely Progressive

I just got back from the Wild Goose Festival. It's a great experience every year,...

July 09, 2017

Five twitter theology feeds: the gospel, hyervigilant moralism, law and order, God’s glory, Good Samaritan

I've been traveling for the past week so I've only had internet access on my...

June 2017

June 22, 2017

A Response to Seedbed’s Five Marks of Theological Liberalism

I would not call myself a liberal Christian. I self-identify as a progressive evangelical, which...

April 2017

April 20, 2017

Freedom, inspiration, and solidarity: how I understand Christian salvation today

I have spent most of my adult life trying to figure out how to talk...

September 2016

September 12, 2016

An open letter with 12 honest questions for the Wesleyan Covenant Association

Dear Wesleyan Covenantal Association, First of all, I'm not afraid of you. I don't think...

August 2016

August 18, 2016

Can the gospel be orthodox and inclusive?

One of the tragedies of our civil war in United Methodism has been the bifurcation...

June 2016

June 06, 2016

What if Christian salvation means becoming divine?

Becoming divine. It sounds like new age drivel one might hear from a spiritual guru...

May 2016

May 20, 2016

When United Methodists behave like Galatians

My fellow Patheos blogger Eric Smith has a provocative blog post pairing the May 29th...

April 2016

April 30, 2016

Religion is the only hope for the American church

I just finished breakfast with a man who has been one of my most important...

February 2016

February 06, 2016

Christian salvation and the Beatitudes #4: The pure in heart

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. This beatitude is everything....

January 2016

January 06, 2016

Can Jesus save the world from Christians?

It seems there are two kinds of Christians: those who think the world needs to...

August 2015

August 20, 2015

Why moralistic meritocracy is incompatible with Christian teaching

There's a meme going around Facebook about a famous football player who boasts that he...

May 2015

May 06, 2015

How a core evangelical doctrine became my gateway heresy

The other week, a friend playfully tweeted out a warning not to mess around with...

April 2015

April 26, 2015

Six ways I will never stop being evangelical

The Christian blogosphere seems to viralize two things: 1) numbered lists (five reasons why this,...

August 2013

August 26, 2013

How the despised ones bring everything to nothing (1 Cor 1:28)

"He has chosen the lowly things of this world: the despised ones and those who...

July 2013

July 26, 2013

Total providence or total depravity? (John Cassian as a remedy for Augustinian nihilism)

In a recent post, John Meunier writes, "You cannot speak intelligently about Wesleyan theology if...

March 2013

March 24, 2013

Ugliness Into Beauty #6: Proof of God’s Mercy

There's an elephant in the room when we talk about the cross. The cross is...

January 2013

January 27, 2013

God’s grace in 4 stick figure drawings

We had the first session of our new member class today. During the first class,...

January 27, 2013

God's grace in 4 stick figure drawings

We had the first session of our new member class today. During the first class,...

December 2012

December 10, 2012

Is God a capitalist? (John Locke and the Romans Road)

One of the theories Doug Campbell advances in The Deliverance of God is that the...

December 07, 2012

A law unto themselves: virtuous pagans in Romans 2

I've been struggling through the beastliest book about the beastliest book in the Bible: Doug...

April 2012

April 24, 2012

What I taught the confirmands: the sea of wrath and island of mercy

For the past two years at our church's confirmation retreat, I've shared a message based...