Category Archives: Theologia

The Church: Flawed and Finished (3)

This series looks at how imperfect and flawed congregations can possibly be the church of Jesus. The first two posts in the series are here and here. When scripture speaks of the church in ideal terms, it is always from the viewpoint of God’s finished work of love and new creation that begins and endsContinue reading “The Church: Flawed and Finished (3)”

The Church: Flawed and Finished (2)

The introduction to this series is here. I was somewhat “motivated” recently when a Protestant convert on EWTN said “Protestants have Christ, but they don’t have his bride.” I found the statement quite…..interesting, especially in view of how I believe the scriptures describe the church in history and in God’s plans. This second post dealsContinue reading “The Church: Flawed and Finished (2)”

The Church: Flawed and Finished (1)

Some recent comments on EWTN drove me back to my Bible and some time thinking through my concept of how the church is both fallible and perfect; flawed and finished; historical and eternal. I’ll share several brief posts walking through the relationship between a very human and flawed historical reality and its relationship with theContinue reading “The Church: Flawed and Finished (1)”

Converting the Consumers: Directions for the Lenten Journey

At the ministry where I work, we have a little guy I’ll call “Charles.” A middle-schooler growing into a young man. Charles is a church kid, and he’s a Christian. He’s also very, very serious about impressing the adult Christians around him. He wears a tie every day. Almost no one on our staff doesContinue reading “Converting the Consumers: Directions for the Lenten Journey”

Robert Capon on the “Baseball Game” Image of Scripture

No single book anywhere by anyone has had 1/100th the positive effect on my life as Robert Capon’s The Fingerprints of God: Tracking the Divine Suspect Through a History of Images. I have no idea what it will do for you, but it was the ingredient that turned a whole lot of dull this andContinue reading “Robert Capon on the “Baseball Game” Image of Scripture”

Breather + Eugene Peterson on “The Church”

I’m going to take a brief breather from original posts for a while. I’ll be postings some iMonk 101 posts and some extended quotes from voices I believe are important and timely. I have a lot of preaching to prepare for in the next few days, as well as some major school events to plan.Continue reading “Breather + Eugene Peterson on “The Church””

Cloverfield, Catastrophism and Christian Eschatology

The following post could possibly be the largest discrepancy between the subject of a post and the actual title of a post you’ve ever read in these spaces. I’m hoping someone will nominate the title for an award. Seriously, if you never thought about the topic of this post, don’t ridicule me. I’ve watched aContinue reading “Cloverfield, Catastrophism and Christian Eschatology”

Enroll in “The Theology Program” (Online Version) Next Week

I don’t plug schools or teaching ministries in this space, and I don’t promote what I’m not convinced represents the values of this audience just because I get some free materials. If I tell you it’s worth your time and money, it will be. And if it proves to be otherwise, I’ll eat crow inContinue reading “Enroll in “The Theology Program” (Online Version) Next Week”

12 Churches, 12 Calvinists: My Response

Over at Frank Turk’s blog, he has something of a motto up on the sidebar. It’s a phrase his pastor offered in a comment thread sometime in the past. Here it is: The Gospel is the solution to culture. I’ve often wanted to riff on this statement. While I’m pretty sure how Frank and hisContinue reading “12 Churches, 12 Calvinists: My Response”