Theology & Philosophy

All Posts
Bible
Theology & Philosophy
History
Culture
Discipleship
Vision
Leadership

Jul 5, 2019

What is "the pursuit of happiness"?

The phrase in the Declaration of Independence meant more to the Founders than we ever would have thought.

Jan 6, 2018

"Gospel-centered" ≠ Redemption-centered

Over the last decade or so, the term "gospel-centered" has become very popular among some followers of Jesus. Many words have issued fort...

Dec 7, 2017

Dead ends, social justice, and the gospel

In a couple previous posts (here and here) I've been meditating on how the gospel—the good news of Jesus—is the solution to all human pro...

Oct 19, 2017

Overcoming barriers between people over sexual morality

I learned much valuable stuff to ponder from a recent conversation with a sweet and honest friend. We were talking about how adolescents ...

Sep 18, 2017

How the gospel solves all our problems

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to apply the good news of Jesus Christ—a.k.a., the gospel—to one's life. A number of ...

Jul 27, 2017

Why grace offends more than hell

The doctrine of hell is one of the hardest pills to swallow for people who grapple with Christianity (not to mention for many Christians ...

Jul 13, 2017

What exactly is the purpose of the church?

UPDATE July 17, 2017 This post makes reference to, in my words, Eugene Peterson's "permissive" view of homosexual behavior by Christians....

Jul 4, 2017

Why you can't be a progressive AND a cultural relativist

One of the planks of today's progressive worldview is cultural relativism. Yet progressivism and cultural relativism are fundamentally in...

Jun 27, 2017

The post-truth era

Since the election of Donald Trump, prestigious figures in journalism have been wringing their hands over the "post-truth era." The New Y...

Jun 12, 2017

The glory spiral of John 17

The New Testament writings of John are ingenious. He employed a very small palette of simple terms—almost Hop on Pop-simple—but he used t...

May 9, 2017

A culture is shaped by the shape of its stories

When we think of what is or is not an appropriate story for a book or film—whether from the perspective of age-appropriacy or of politica...

{"items":["5dcd5a627eb8f100176f84b3","5dcd5a62ea9d290018f24d39","5dcd5a62ae1dd700170cf901","5dcd5a622271fd0017787d49","5dcd5a627eb8f100176f84b5","5dcd5a62f9372e0017b6ebf1","5dcd5a62620f650017f76ce0","5dcd5a6207795400176c08c8","5dcd5a62620f650017f76cdf","5dcd5a6264a1490017e20153","5dcd5a62a7090b00175fe778"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":false,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":1,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":940,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"themeName":"color_12","value":"rgba(209,209,209,1)"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":940,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":940,"galleryWidth":972,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}