A Walk through Paul’s Letter to the Romans (I wrote this on my journey to work this morning. It began with an effort to make sense of a difficult passage in the first chapter. It ended with something like a targum or paraphrase of the entire letter.) There is no special identity that can save

I recently came across the citation from St Athanasius (via creativeorthodox.com) that beautifully compares the resurrection of Christ to a fire that completely consumes death as if it were dry straw. The comparison reminded me of the range and frequent use of fire as imagery associated with the person or acts of God. A brief

I frequently run into the argument that God can do whatever he wants because he is God. Partnered with this assertion is often an accusation that human “sensibilities” about what is right and wrong are not the same as God’s—that his ways are higher than our ways—as a defense for God behaving in ways that

I’m so over him! she sobbed, I’m moving on! confirming that she hadn’t even begun the process of “moving on.” Theirs had been love at first sight—butterflies of infatuation assured her that she had found “Mister Right”—or, “the One” as she liked to call him. How had it come to this? Not worth recounting, though

A constellation of questions, common to some Christian traditions, increasingly makes me cringe. Are you saved? Is he/she saved? When were you saved? I know what is intended. They are identifying ‘saved’ with the moment I ‘invited Christ into my heart’ through the faith confession involved in ‘the Sinner’s Prayer.’ If that is how and

George Costanza’s Angry God George: God would never let me be successful. He’d kill me first. He’ll never let me be happy. Therapist: I thought you didn’t believe in God. George: I do for the bad things. N.T. Wright’s Rejection of the Angry God Brad Jersak’s Reflections on Wright and Romans 8:3-4 I like what