Dear Rachel,

In many ways you and I are kindred spirits. We may not always wind up in the same place, but I usually have a deep sense of resonance with your journey. When I read your blog I’m reminded of my own imperfect path. I count you as a fellow pilgrim. Thank you for being you. I’m appreciative of your thought-provoking insights, honest wrestling, strong convictions, transparent admissions, humble spirit, and attempted civility. Your blog is refreshing to my heart, mind, and spirit. Again, thank you. Read more

This past year I volunteered with Unite InterVarsity at Baylor University. It has been a restorative ministry context; God’s means of grace in healing my body, conforming my heart, renewing my mind, lifting my spirit, teaching me to love my neighbor, and renewing my hope for the Body of Christ. A recent example brought me to tears. One of the graduating guys told me that, regardless of whether it’s ever formally recognized by the Anglican Church or any other ecclesiastical body, the fruit of my life evidences that I’m already a pastor. Read more

I prayed this last weekend at Rec Week, but also wanted to share it with those students who couldn’t make it and those who support our community with prayer and finances: Read more

Though I’ve seen plenty of allusions to John Piper’s recent tweet about the Oklahoma tornadoes, I still don’t know what was said. That’s intentional. I hide the content just as soon as I recognize it in my Facebook newsfeed.¹ Chances are he was trying to comfort the brokenhearted with God’s sovereignty and it backfired, as tends to happen. Read more

Christians often say, “Forgive and forget” as though they’re synonymous or, at the very least, intimately connected actions. I disagree, have never liked that phrase, and am skeptical of its biblical merit. It seems to me that forgiving is a matter of intention whereas forgetting is a matter of ignorance. However one defines sin,¹1.Whether as rebellion against God, that which is detrimental to human flourishing, or some other similar conception. I think God forgives our sins but I don’t think He forgets them. The factual reality hasn’t been expunged from His omniscience. Read more

We’ve all dealt with a little anxiety on occasion. That’s life. But the last several months I’ve battled severe, capital-A Anxiety for the first time. Amidst that struggle, however, I offer a praise. I’ve shared in a previous blog post that Unite InterVarsity has been God’s means of grace in my life. That continues. Read more

It’s funny. I’ve always known there was something amiss about the way my brain worked, but for the longest time I couldn’t put my finger on it.¹ Without knowing it I was concealing the problem by overcoming it. I maximized my strengths, found creative work-arounds, or just plain worked my butt off after my competitive nature and iron will kicked in. Read more

A crucial part of my efforts to rebuild up from mere Christianity has involved taking a fresh look at episcopal oversight. Specifically, what does it mean to submit to one’s bishop? The last couple weeks I’ve been been quietly asking around concerning this whole issue. Read more

Suppose I wind up remaining a part of the Anglican tradition. I don’t think the developments and insights from my recent church exploration will result in a boiled down mere Christianity. Rather, I think it’s making me just that much more ecumenical toward other denominational bodies. My commitment to cross-tradition spiritual formation is only being intensified. The danger, of course, is not just putting ‘em all in an ecclesiastical blender and pressing liquify as Brian McLaren once described it. There you lose the beauty, distinctiveness, insights, and values of each; you get a sludge that’s nasty to look at and worthless to use. But I do think it’s possible to carefully and gratefully glean elements from other traditions while remaining faithful to one’s own. That’s my growing vision, anyway.

I hold to what Mark Noll describes as “political Lutheranism.” It’s a two kingdom understanding of the relationship between church and state which recognizes critical distinctions between their functions and purposes. It advocates neither the withdrawal of nor hegemony from Christians.¹1.“All it takes for evil to succeed is good men to do nothing.” “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” These are the two extremes which are to be principally avoided. Instead Christians are to continuously negotiate how they ought to participate within the public square, and especially politics. Read more

Whether you’re still in your teens or now in your mid-40s, if you grew up attending conservative evangelical churches as I did you’ve probably been told a false narrative concerning the rise of the Christian Right as a delayed response to Roe vs. Wade. That makes for a good motivational story but is just plain historically untenable. It’s a recasting of historical events and motivations that just doesn’t align with the reality on the ground. Read more

“If ever you find the perfect church, don’t join it. It won’t be perfect anymore.” You’ve almost certainly heard that cliché if you’ve spent much time at all around evangelical Christians. My problem with it isn’t a lack of truth but its usage. So often it’s employed to piously dismiss rather than address valid criticisms.¹1.That vexes me. In my opinion, we need to complicate rather than simplify the issue. Every church, tradition, and denomination is unique. Each has powerful insights and glaring blind spots, points of profound beauty and horrendous ugliness. No tradition exemplifies this better than Anglicanism. Read more

Preface¹

I’m a Critical Realist through and through. As such I affirm neither pure objectivism nor sheer relativism. I’m a perspectivist, which reflects my thoroughly postfoundationalist epistemology.² To my mind the task of intellectually wrestling is never complete.1.Definitions:
Stability
- The state or quality of being stable, especially:
a. Resistance to change, deterioration, or displacement.
b. Constancy of character or purpose; steadfastness.
c. Reliability; dependability.
Resolution
- The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.
- A resolving to do something.
- A course of action determined or decided on. Not even in a single topic. So long as humankind lacks omniscience there will always be more facts to consider, insights to explore, perspectives to integrate, complexities to grasp, errors to fix, fields to synthesize, etc. As my fortune cookie said last fall, “A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.”

That’s why I don’t believe the life of the mind is merely about repackaging old truths in order to effectively communicate them to an audience in ever-new cultural-historical contexts. Certainly that’s part of the picture, but it’s equally about the ongoing process of nuance, clarification, refinement, overhaul, and creating. It’s more a creative task than a repetitious task; more like painting than building something on an assembly line. And that is why I tell people that I seek stability instead of resolution. Read more

I’m pretty well pro-life from womb to tomb.¹ But, look, I’m not one of these guys who looks on the abortion issue without compassion, humility, or precision. It’s a far more complicated, difficult issue than almost anyone wants to acknowledge. Two points will highlight this reality. Read more

In response to yesterday’s “May Madness: A Bracket for My Search of a Church Home,” a young Anglican priest sent a Facebook message. Here’s an excerpt:¹

1.Quoted anonymously with his permission. In fact, this whole post is published with his permission. He disagrees with my perspective but is civil enough to welcome the discussion.I’m calling bullshit. end this charade… I tell you this for your own good and because I love you. youre only taking away from this exersice burned bridges with other Xians and raising suspicions about your commitment… this whole thing seems like you’re pouting. doesn’t help your cause. either you’re politically oblivious or you just don’t give a damn… this whole thing is about you getting ordained, right? do what you need to do. don’t shoot yourself in the foot again… no one wants a wolf in sheep’s clothing for a priest, or maybe in this case an anabaptist in anglican’s vestments. cross-tradition formation gets muddled quickly. it ain’t pretty. embrace your home and be formed by it. Read more

Preface¹

Before sharing this graphic, there’s a number of important things to clarify. First and foremost, I want to ensure the spirit with which I’m doing this is known.1.This post is furthering the narrative continuity from “Am I Still an Anglican? Honestly, I Don’t Know.” to “Why I’m Rebuilding Up from Mere Christianity: The Follow-Up to ‘Am I Still an Anglican?’“ This exploration is being done in a prayerful, respectful manner. While I’m thoroughly enjoying the process, I’m not treating it like a game. That it, I’m not being casual or haphazard about it. I’m proceeding with discernment, intentionality, precision, and rigor. Second, the bracket is being used as an imperfect tool. Read more

Preface¹

C.S. Lewis once mused that mere Christianity makes for a better hallway than a room. It’s helpful and necessary, but you wouldn’t want to live there. I tend to think of it more like food. 1.This post is kind of a conceptual follow-up to the recent “Am I Still an Anglican? Honestly, I Don’t Know.” It’s not entirely necessary, but this post will probably make much more sense if you read the first.To my mind, mere Christianity can probably sustain a low-level spiritual life, but doesn’t nourish a full and healthy spiritual life. It won’t enable and equip a vigorous pursuit of God. It just doesn’t provide enough well-rounded nutrition to do so. Yet by committing to a particular faith tradition one can be cultivated by its principles, formed by its community, gain depth through its insights, and help sustain its future. It’s not just me and “buddy Jesus.” It’s about being a part of something larger.²2.It’s a rejection of radical autonomy in favor of a healthy dependence upon others. To be human is, after all, to be in community. That’s why I refuse to end up as an eternal ecclesiastical vagabond like a Roger Williams. Read more

While it’s not yet my vocation, to the core of my being I’m a writer.¹ That’s why it bugs me so much when people I respect who don’t share the authorial gene rebuke or scold me for my public transparency. They just don’t get it. It’s exceedingly obvious that I’m imperfect. Yet I do my very best to uphold the tensions between truth and love, passion and humility, criticism and grace, transparency and discretion, conviction and discernment. Read more

God rarely “tells” me things. You’ll rarely if ever hear me saying something like, “God told me…” It’s just not a part of my spiritual vocab let alone my schema. My sense of where the Holy Spirit is leading almost always comes from some combination of thoughtful analysis, careful discernment, and other members of the Body of Christ. Read more

It was almost three years ago that I finished the Canterbury Trail. Since then I’ve openly and intentionally described myself as an Anglican Christian. Anglican has for me been an adjective rather than a noun. It’s been a description of what sort of Christian I’ve been, not a source of identity or loyalty. I’m a Christian, i.e. follower of Christ. That’s my noun. That’s my identity. That’s my loyalty. That’s the main dish while Anglicanism has merely been the condiment, if you will. This reflects my view that the tradition is at its very best when it’s minimally self-aware and serving as a bridge to help unite the fragmented Body of Christ.¹1.Three such examples of this are John Stott’s leadership with the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, J.I. Packer’s pioneering work with Evangelicals and Catholics Together, and N.T. Wright’s profound, charitable influence across the theological spectrum. The psychological and spiritual trauma of my ordination twice being halted at the last minute has seriously called that adjective into question, though.² I’m not angry, bitter, or resentful. I just feel exhausted and terrified. One way or the other, I’m ready to move forward with my life. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-29-2013.

Over the years I’ve often been given the biblical admonition from Matthew 10:16 to be wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove. No doubt it’s wise, godly counsel. The thing is, what does it mean in practice? Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-27-2013.

The last couple years I’ve been an AmeriCorps member. As part of the HealthCorps branch, my job is usually to help alleviate hunger and food insecurity in the local community in Waco, Texas. With the tragedy that happened in West, however, I’ve been spending a good deal of time helping there.  It has been a wonderful experience. Sometimes I get melancholy about how the fall seems to always be winning. But what I’ve witnessed in West is the imagio dei, marred as it is, shining forth. People truly living into their humanity. The Church truly being the Body of Christ. It has been beautiful, and has given me much hope, joy, and renewal. I suppose it’s the paradox of this world that it so often takes tragedy for humanity to truly live into its role as God’s image-bearers.

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-25-2013.

Fellow Christians,

Binary categorization isn’t innately wrong. Indeed, it can be a helpful shorthand when there’s need of brevity and/or simplicity. Here’s a sample of binary pairs we all understand and use: left and right, up and down, wide and narrow, life and death, good and evil, true and false, big and small, tall and short, conservative and liberal, introvert and extrovert, masculine and feminine, joy and sorrow, hope and fear, open and closed, inside and outside, freedom and captivity. Such concepts are helpful. They provide a manageable schema that enables us to not only make sense of the world but to communicate with one another. To suggest otherwise would be nonsensical foolishness. Yet that isn’t the end of the story. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-25-2013.

The biggest problem I see with the Oklahoma City Thunder is role confusion. Namely, their Pippen thinks he’s their Jordan. In this year’s regular season Westbrook took over a hundred shots more than Durant. Unacceptable. Unless that changes, or Miami’s squad is disassembled through injury or free agency, I don’t see the Thunder winning a title any time soon. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-24-2013.

What a strange time in American church history. It’s not uncommon for mainline denominations to now treat orthodoxy like adiaphora and adiaphora like orthodoxy. For example, in the PCUSA a person can get ordained without upholding to the Trinity yet (s)he must be willing attend a woman’s ordination and affirm its validity. Meanwhile, in many conservative denominations there essentially is no adiaphora because virtually everything is treated like orthodoxy. For example, I’m aware of a Southern Baptist pastor who recently lost his job because he wasn’t OK with re-baptizing a married couple who’d been baptized as infants in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. To quote Stealers Wheel, “Clowns to the left of me / Jokers to the right / Here I am stuck in the middle with you.”

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-24-2013.

As Christians we’re called to do everything reasonably possible to be at peace with one another. Key words: reasonably possible. That doesn’t include compromising who God has made and called us to be. To give a couple examples, a college student should not stifle her God-given passion for social justice because her conservative parents dislike it nor should a pastor violate his conscience to lessen up on proclaiming the bodily resurrection because members of his progressive congregation think it naive. If we’ve done our part in meeting with the persons as well as maintaining a forgiving and gracious spirit, then our hands are clean. It’s not our responsibility if they choose not to forgive or to harbor anger, bitterness, resentfulness, or the like. That’s on them. It’s neither right nor prudent to avoid all conflict, bending over backward to make them feel better. Without an extended exegetical treatment, I suspect this is one implication of Christ’s saying that he came not to bring peace but a sword. A faithful Christian should be assertive, not cowering to aggressive, passive-aggressive, or covert-aggressive wolves in sheep’s clothing. The trick, I think, is not becoming self-righteous about it. It seems to go against human nature to resist others while maintaining humility, love, and charity.

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-24-2013.

Far too many well-intentioned Christians use the term heresy flippantly and ignorantly, in the process causing a great deal of pain to others. Let’s get this straight. Those doctrines that comprise orthodoxy are those that are deemed absolutely essentially for fellowship whereas those doctrines that comprise adiaphora are, while unquestionably important and shouldn’t be minimized, non-essential for fellowship. Heresy, then, is not the rejection of adiaphora nor is it the questioning of orthodoxy. Heresy is not merely strong disagreement over an important doctrine, i.e. atonement theories, but rather the rejection and replacement of a doctrine necessary for fellowship, i.e. Jesus’ bodily resurrection. While I would at this moment much prefer to avoid a discussion of what, exactly, orthodoxy is and how we arrived at it, I would hope people would take this reminder to heart before dropping the H-bomb over differences in adiaphora. When ya do that ya end becoming the boy who cried wolf.

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-22-2013.

I may have just found a big piece of the puzzle in overcoming my capital-A Anxiety. There’s an unfortunate mental shift that has taken place. Back in college I used to ask myself, ‘What’s possible?’ Never was an idealist about it. Instead I was an an idealistic realist. I spent my time a) envisioning possibilities, b) thinking how to push the envelope in what might reasonable, c) (passionately) seeking the Spirit’s guidance through the counsel of mentors and in prayer, then d) going out and doing it regardless of opposition.¹1.It was an impulse toward conviction, hope, life, and redemption. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-22-2013.

It’s lonely in the Center. Not only have most these days polarized to the Left or Right, but those with whom I share a general epistemological, theological, political… perspective tend to royally irritate me with their willful embrace of spite (see: post-conservative evangelicals). From firsthand experience, I get how that perspective gets formed but I refuse to walk in sync with them. Why can so few see the obvious? Content, tone, and community are co-equal in importance when it comes to the rigorous pursuit of truth.

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-21-2013.

In my eyes, the true measure of a man lies not in the warmth of his personality nor in his commitment to helping others but rather in his readiness to freely admit when he has been wrong and in his commitment to helping others despite personal risk/cost. Being a nice guy during times of ease is far too self-gratifying. It’s having humility and the courage to aid others during difficult times that is truly godly, because then it’s not about yourself. Just my opinion.

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-19-2013.

It’s my contention that continental Protestantism and its heirs are fundamentally philosophically- rather than historically-inclined. That is to say, I think continental Protestantism¹1.For the time being let’s define this as Moravians, Anabaptists, Lutherans, Zwinglians, and the Genevans. is fundamentally ahistorical in character. Of course, no doubt the Geneva wing is more historically-inclined on the spectrum. Yet Calvin was unable to secure apostolic succession despite his darnedest efforts. Without apostolic succession a tangible, physical connection with the past was severed. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-19-2013.

Exhibit A: I share an old satirical blog post. Then am told by a few it was inappropriate or poorly-timed, but someone else tells me the laugh it provided was precisely what was needed that day.

Exhibit B: I write a cathartic Facebook status. Then am told by a few it was inappropriate or poorly-timed, but a number of others tell me it made them no longer feel alone and was precisely what was needed that day.

Exhibit C: I offer a pointed criticism over lunch with a few people. Then am told by a few it was too harsh and personal, but the person I addressed it to sends me a private thank you message and says it was precisely what was needed that day.

Anyone else detecting a pattern? Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-17-2013.

I’ve got a pet theory. From my studies of history and personal experience, my observation has been that within a predominantly white American evangelical context… Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-17-2013.

Dear Facebook friends who’s privately thanked me for my recent transparency: Thank you! I never knew a ministry of suffering could be so powerful to others who feel alone and are struggling with the same kinds of things. Your kind words and prayers have meant the world. May the gracious God of the Bible show you much love and mercy. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-16-2013.

Sometimes I think Westboro Baptist is, quite inadvertently, one of the best things that could have happen to the American Church. Stay with me now. While they’re embittered, hateful, bigoted, cultish, hermeneutically-challenged, and utterly devoid of biblical grace, their methods really have enabled a rather starch contrast between what they do/believe and what most conservative Christians–evangelicals, Catholics, Orthodox, etc.–do/believe. They’re nuts and it’s evident to all, which distinguishes everyone else from them.

Just like me. Ever the optimist. Always looking for the silver lining

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-16-2013.

If I may parse delicately, I tend to love the insights of blogs written by Anglicans but a couple months ago I swore off Anglican blogs. Let’s face the facts. The Anglican world just ain’t that interesting or eventful. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-13-2013.

During a recent pair of heart-to-heart phone conversations two dear college friends unknowingly offered the same observation/criticism. They said I’ve always had high standards for myself, pushing hard to excel and understand truth and explore the christian faith. It’s part and parcel to who I am. It’s not about perfection but about savoring life. They also suggested that this frenetic pace cannot be sustained indefinitely. Though I didn’t say this, my involuntary initial response was to take it as something of a challenge. ‘Ohhhh, yyyyyeah?!?’ It was a brief flicker of the competitive spark that used to drive me. Both times it lasted for approximately 37 seconds. I then sighed, sinking into a begrudging, tired acceptance. They’re right in one respect. Something needs to change. The plain truth is that I am worn out.¹1.i.e. intellectually, psychologically, physically, relationally, spiritually. I don’t feel broken down so much as I do out of gas, though. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-13-2013.

Not gonna lie. I cannot claim to be a Brennan Manning fanboy. Twice I’ve tried to get into his books and was unable to make it past the first 10 pages or so. I suspect it’s largely because I’m just not wired as a mystic.¹1.I often tell people, “I’m more Mark Noll or N.T. Wright than Brennan Manning or Shane Claiborne. With his passing, however, my newsfeed has been filled with heartfelt posts of sorrow and admiration from persons who I dearly love and respect–neither of which is written casually. This inspired me to reconsider my past assessment and search for some quotes. What I found is that about 2/3 of what others seem to resonate with so deeply still doesn’t have the same effect on me. Candidly, I find much of it to be self-evident truth²2.for those who value the life of the mind or even mildly… well, now isn’t an appropriate time to be too critical. Let’s just say it clanged off the front rim. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-11-2013.

I find selflessness to be a difficult virtue of Christianity. On the one hand, clearly we’re to have a servant’s heart and to esteem others higher than ourselves. This is much needed today, especially in light of our present narcissistic and overly therapeutic culture.¹1.Yes, I say that as one who has benefited greatly from counseling. On the other hand, much burnout, hurt and neglect has directly resulted from not taking care of oneself and one’s family. Even Jesus took frequent breaks to get away and re-charge, reflecting the universal human need for protection and rest. Yet these two things seem contradictory rather than paradoxical. This causes me to think, ‘I don’t think that word (selflessness) means what I think it means.’ Time to reconsider some things.

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-10-2013.

10. I meant well, but I’ve been wrong about that.

9. I’d like to offer a little good-natured push-back.

8. While I still disagree, I have a better sense of where you’re coming from.

7. I let my experiences and emotions get in the way of the facts. My bad.

6. Wasn’t aware of that (fact, logical fallacy, etc.) before. Thanks.

5. Huh. Hadn’t thought of that before. I’ll have to consider it. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-9-2013.

Today a pastor here in Waco posted the following Facebook status:

People are injured in a knife attack at a college campus, perhaps severe, and the first thing that happens is folks who love their guns just a little too much rush to make a snarky and uncreative comment about how all knives should be banned. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-9-2013.

Some people think we should carefully honor other people’s sacred cows. They think there are some beliefs, opinions, and perspectives that should be above questioning. We should respect them by not challenging them. Other people think there should be no sacred cows. They think all beliefs, opinions, and perspectives should be up for reassessment as merited by the evidence. We should challenge them all and do it all at once. As for myself, I’m more inclined to the latter but think its underlying idealism to be a bit naive. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-8-2013.

Is Christianity a religion? Well, let’s look at the evidence: Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-8-2013.

As I understand it, in the Netherlands couples are issued certificates of Civil Union by the government. Then they have whatever ceremony–religious or non-religious–they choose. I’m pretty sure I support this approach. Of course, it seems to me it’s no coincidence the Netherlands implemented this. The real challenge in doing so here is that it would seem to require an honest acknowledgement by some of our post-christian, pluralistic realities and a further decoupling of church and state. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-7-2013.

My observation has been that it tends to deeply trouble American Christians that if a person is born in Saudi Arabia (s)he is most likely Muslim, if a person is born in India (s)he is most like Hindu, if a person is born in Utah (s)he is most likely Mormon, etc. Yet there doesn’t seem to be the same disturbance about a person who’s born to a christian family in, say, Ohio being a Christian. This I find inconsistent. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-6-2013

Food for thought:

Are you familiar with the late, great Mark Heard? He was a “a musician who [was] a Christian.” According to his biography, Mark felt rather strongly that Christian is a noun. It’s a person–a follower of Christ–rather than a type of thing. Thus, he didn’t believe in the existence of Christian books any more than he believed in the existence of distinctly Christian mathematics or uniquely Christian plumbing. This is a perspective with which I resonate. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-5-2013

As my former professor of systematic theology would attest, I used to vocally resist the term “means of grace”… Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 4-4-2013

C.S. Lewis once mused that mere Christianity makes for a better hallway than a room. It’s helpful and necessary, but you wouldn’t want to live there. I see mere evangelicalism in much the same way. It seems to me evangelicalism (at its best) provides a certain centrality on essential things, around which a good deal of healthy ecumenism is based. This is praiseworthy. Read more

*Adapted from a Facebook status update on 3-31-2013.

1. Congratulations to the whole Nagel family on the birth of Liam Matthew Nagel!
2. Alleluia! Christ is risen!
3. Beautiful sunrise service at DaySpring Baptist Church. As an Anglican myself, I must say that I respect and appreciative them contemplative/liturgical Baptists.
4. This year I resonated deeply with the sorrow of Good Friday and the disorientation of Holy Saturday, but must confess that I’m not feeling that deep connection with the joy of Easter, which is funny because two years ago it was just the opposite. Oh, life.
5. Wichita State? Nope. Didn’t see that comin’. Read more

Preface

Allow me to be candid. As a regular critic of American evangelicalism myself, it has been my overwhelming experience that the vast majority of my fellow critics, in-house and elsewhere, are simply ignorant.¹1.This two-part series isn’t ontological in nature. I’m not exploring whether or not I am an evangelical Christian. As I’ve explored in many past blog entries, the answer to that is yes. What I’m exploring here is psychological in nature; I’m looking at my simultaneous feelings of alterity and affinity toward American evangelicalism’s culture. Theirs is usually a well-intentioned albeit ideologically laden, factually ignorant, and blatantly myopic perspective that exhibits a near absolute dearth of historical understanding. It’s often said that evangelicals haven’t and don’t care about social justice, for example. I couldn’t reasonably begin to disprove this accusation altogether, but it’s simplistic well beyond the point of being misleading. Read more

Preface¹

In Reformed scholar Stephen J. Nichols’ 2008 book, Jesus Made in America: A Cultural History from the Puritans to The Passion of the Christ, he describes American Christianity’s uniquely malleable perception of Christ.1.This two-part series isn’t ontological in nature. I’m not exploring whether or not I am an evangelical Christian. As I’ve explored in many past blog entries, the answer to that is yes. What I’m exploring here is psychological in nature; I’m looking at my simultaneous feelings of alterity and affinity toward American evangelicalism’s culture. We’re continually recasting the biblical, first century, Jewish, incarnate, and resurrected Messiah in light of our own faddish expectations. As Nichols puts it, “Only in America would you find such books as Jesus, CEO or its sequel, Jesus in Blue Jeans.” Amidst the broad spectrum of American Christianity, he particularly focuses upon this tendency among his evangelical peers, which he suggests is a result of four widespread cultural impulses: Read more

One common and rather disconcerting theme throughout the New Testament is the guarentee of hardship resulting from the Gospel. Jesus makes painfully clear that whoever genuinely follows Him will face persecution and Paul’s life furthered that ominous precedent for the infant Church. It strikes me that the dangerous thing is not the content of the message itself, but its subversive quality. The Gospel is no respecter of previously existing schemas.¹1.People may be displeased with disagreement on relatively minor issues, but its’ when their worldview and way of life feels plausibly challenged that people react with vitriol, violence, and vindictiveness. That’s why Christianity is not only so threatening but also life-changing; it’s a direct undermining of the community’s stabilizing norms and reformation of individuals’ core sources of identity. That much I’ve long known. Read more

A regular theme of this blog is advocating a kind of convicted civility that evidences a simultaneous commitment to truth and love, principle and graciousness. Richard Mouw calls it “uncommon decency.” A common response I get from people is that’s nearly impossible to do, or at least to maintain over the long-term. But as one who used to be a fundamentalist I’d like to challenge that popular assumption. My strong belief is that it’s a learned mindset and way of being. Trust me. I don’t claim to be a saint now, but there was a time when I excelled at being a jerk. What I’ve sinced learned is that uncommon decency is every bit as much of a life habit as is condescension, selfishnesss, self-righteousness, over-simplification, militancy, and the like. Read more

There are three types of people in this world. Each has a different response when told as a child not to touch the hot stove. The first is the type who simply must get burned. For them the learning process is primarily experiential in nature. It often requires feeling the pain of mistakes. The second is the type who becomes overly cautious and forevermore avoids that stove. For them the learning process is cautious. It’s often driven by a mild fear of making a mistake or getting hurt. The third type heeds the warning, then calls the first type dumb and tells the second type to stop being a wuss. It’s a common sense learning process that’s driven by practicality. I was that kid.¹1.While I now work to curb, or perhaps channel, the excesses of that approach, it nonetheless remains my default. Read more

I ♥ George Carlin. This is absolutely brilliant. HT, John Brandkamp.

I encourage you to omit the introductory fluff and skip ahead to 5:30. Read more

Dear friends and family who are conservative Christians,

Disagreeing politically with president Obama doesn’t itself make one a racist. Feel free to criticize his economic principles, political philosophy, executive policies, inconsistencies, worldview, and the like. As with all presidential administrations, those are important issues requiring much attention. But variously describing the president as socialist, communist, fascist, gay, Muslim, and atheist does pretty well preclude intelligent thought. Read more

I’m not gonna lie. If you only know me through Facebook or this blog, you’re not missing out on much. The real-life version isn’t any better. In fact, my speaking ability is significantly inferior to my writing ability. To be clear, I’m neither depressingly sulking over my deficiencies nor pridefully praising my gifts. A plain, honest assessment is that I’m good writer and an above average speaker. All that’s tangential to the point at hand, though. Read more

The new kneeler and Celtic wall cross have helped form a sacred space in my upstairs man cave. To offer a brief reflection, it’s amazing how perfectly liturgical prayer and a kneeler complement each other, and together spiritually fulfill who God made me to be. For the longest time I felt like a giant turd burglar because I hated praying, never wanted to do it, and couldn’t find consistency even when I desperately tried to force myself. Suddenly it’s as though that struggle has lifted. Little did I know all I needed was aesthetic beauty instead of spontaneity, historicity instead of novelty, contemplation instead of zeal, and an acceptance for my felt desire for transcendence rather than an unrelenting commitment to immanence.¹1.For the liturgical nerds, the three books on the kneeler’s shelf are Celtic Daily Prayer, the Church of England’s Common Worship, and the Church of Ireland’s 2004 edition of the Book of Common Prayer–all of which I love. Read more

I’ve long thought there was something eschew about the way the Church’s ecumenical councils are numbered, but only recently came up with a helpful analogy. Where I grew up in Oklahoma and Minnesota the road systems are largely laid out according to the cardinal directions, making it’s ridiculously easy to navigate. If you’re in Cokato and you want to go to Minneapolis, you take Highway 12 going east. It works because Minneapolis is straight east of Cokato and east means, ya know, east. The denizens of Waco, TX where I presently live are directionally challenged, though. Read more

I’ve found I retain content better when I write in my books, so my method is to put brackets around portions I find insightful or particularly well-written and stars in the margins beside quotes I want to share. Below are my stars in the margins for Philip Yancey’s 1998 book, Church: Why Bother? (My Personal Pilgrimage). While not his best work, Yancey always has extraordinary skill in offering profound insights in an accessible way. This short book was no exception. I’d recommend it not only for those who aren’t presently a part of a local church, but also to those who are committed to a local body yet struggle with its frustrating, inevitable flaws. If my experience is any indicator, you’ll be blessed, challenged, convicted, and exhorted by Yancey’s reflections upon his pilgrimage. Read more

Our society is transitioning into a Post-Christian, pluralistic, and increasingly secular period. Some celebrate this. Others mourn it. Still others are largely apathetic about the whole thing. Regardless of one’s response, it remains the well-known reality in which we live. Against that backdrop, one thing I find endlessly intriguing is the stubborn, lingering felt need for religious expression. Specifically, there’s a growing recognition among scholars that people are increasingly looking for a whole host of other things to fulfill the role that religion once played. Enter Michelle Lelwica’s book, The Religion of Thinness: Satisfying the Spiritual Hungers Behind Women’s Obsession with Food and Weight. Read more

Let’s not mince words. Much of my life as a Christian has been the saga of a well-intentioned ass. That includes inadvertently causing people much pain, foolishly writing a great many idiotic things, often disappointing loved ones by failing to live up to my word, and so forth. This isn’t some sort of vague recognition about my fallen condition with a begrudging admission of my need for grace. No, I’m cutting past all of our pious pleasantries to say it like it is.¹1.I’ve effed up with such incredible frequency that it’d be virtually impossible not to be keenly aware of my obvious faults, frustrating weaknesses, inexcusable offenses, and sordid errors. I’d like to think I’ve made a good deal of progress in the ol’ sanctification and fruits of the Spirit departments since graduating high school nearly a decade ago, but the unsightly truth is that I remain much the same man I was back then–my character has grown up but my human nature is unaltered. Read more

I’m terribly vexed by those intellectually proud people who incessantly nitpick in order to sound smart yet offer little in the way of meaningful contribution. I’ve in mind four types of these guys. Read more

When in the Course of online events, it becomes necessary for one person to dispense the seeming political (as well as theological and cultural) alignment which has friended him with another, and to assume among the opinions of Zuckerbergland, the separate yet civil position to which his education has entitled him, a decent respect to the opinions of peers requires that he should declare the causes which impel him to restate the obvious. I reject a default bifurcation of reality, particularly that between conservatism and progressivism, as the logical fallacy of false dichotomy. Read more

After going on Baylor’s Civil Rights Tour last spring, this year I counted it a privilege to take part in today’s Martin Luther King Day celebrations. The events included a march across Waco’s historic suspension bridge, a rally at MLK park, giving a speech to a group of college students, and a day of service in a local community garden. Everyone knows this also coincided with the presidential inauguration. Never one to shy away from a little controversy, I’d like to address the elephant in the room. Read more

More than 19 minutes on a controversial subject and I don’t think I disagreed with anything. Read more

A couple nights ago I finally finished reading James Davison Hunter’s To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World.¹1.I’ve been plugging away at it since August. It was one of those rare books where I could only read a page or two at a time because the content was so rich and schema-altering. I needed to carefully process almost every paragraph. It’s without question the second most personally influential book I’ve read. For as long as I can remember I’ve been asking hard, sincere questions about what it meant to be a Christian in this world–artistically, politically, intellectually, vocationally, institutionally, etc. Nearly all the answers I’ve received have been well-intentioned yet seriously flawed, and seldom had meaningful correspondence with Scripture. I was left spiritually groping in the dark. In some real sense, then, Hunter’s book has finally provided the discipleship I’ve always longed for. I won’t naively act as though I’ve got it all figured out but I can say with confidence that he pointed has me in the right direction, laying out how I can be follower of Christ in our convuluted 21st century, pluralistic, Western context. For those who might be unfamiliar, title is ironical. His whole premise is that we need to stop trying to “change the world” and rethink virtually all of our presuppositions, which he suggests are premised upon an antiquated and dangerous Constantinian paradigm. It’s truly a fascinating read that I’d recommend to all Christians. I’ve found I retain content better when I write in my books, so my method is to put brackets around portions I find insightful or particularly well-written, summary statements next to bracketed portions I’ll want to reference later, and stars in the margins for quotes I want to share. To Change the World easily set the record for most stars in the margins. Most of them are are provided below. So as to be slightly less overwhelming I’ve tried to organize them into helpful categories that provide just a bit of context. Also, I need to offer a fair warning. Without the least bit of hyperbole, if you’re a Christian and carefully read these quotes–intentionally having them take root in the depths of you heart, mind, soul–they may well fundamentally alter your life and faith. Proceed with caution… Read more

Fairly often I’m asked what books have most profoundly influenced me, so I decided to make a simple Top 10 list (plus a few honorable mentions) without analysis, commentary, or explanation: Read more

Something I find endlessly fascinating is how our life experiences influence our spiritual outlook. I’m by no means a determinist, but it’s undeniable how much they impact us. Some Christians would never think of approaching a stranger to tell them about the Gospel because that’s essentially foreign to their reserved tradition. For others that’s their faith’s centerpiece because it’s what their tradition chiefly values. Some Christians have been taught to invest a great deal of time and energy serving the poor and less fortunate, which is said to be the heart of the Gospel. For others poverty is almost entirely off their radar because they’re faithfully raising families, coaching youth baseball, working jobs, and the like. Such examples could go on forever. One I find particularly interesting, however, has to do with our treatment of Scripture. Specifically, what its assumed prevalence should be in the way we communicate. Some Christians prefer the Bible’s influence to be subtle. Others think it ought to be overt. I find myself caught in the middle. I’m an odd evangelical in that I believe in Scripture’s centrality yet am cautious about how I communicate about it.¹1.What else is to be expected of a hardlining moderate? Read more

Preface.¹

I graduated college in spring 2009. Each of the four years since then have been inordinately difficult. Whether it has been estrangement or a lost sense of purpose, depression or sickness,1.To see a kind of narrative continuity with his post, I wanted to provide a few links to earlier posts. These are from August 2009, October 2010, May 2011, and July 2011, respectively:
Feeling Old at 24
Miniblog #26: Recalibrating My Life
Learning Disability & the Dark Night of the Soul: Accepting, Overcoming, Revisioning
I’m Very Human: A Post of Spiritual and Psychological Transparency unemployment or church turmoil, I’ve rarely felt like I was thriving as I did the preceding seven years. Most often I felt like I was barely holding on, to be honest.² For the first time in a long time, however, I have hope. There’s obvious light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe, just maybe, the dark night of the soul is finally drawing to an end. I’m making a concerted effort to turn the page in 2013. I want nothing more than to look back on this year like I did all those years from 2002-2008 and simply think, ‘Ya know, this has been a good year. Thanks be to God.’ Read more

Preface.¹

1.This is Part 4 of The Church and the Life of the Mind series. My reasoning here builds upon the previous entries. Here are links to those posts:
Why Am I So Protective About This Issue?
Reflections on a Faithful Discourse of Inquiry
Why I Value Doubting and QuestioningA classic axiom of the Church is that of faith seeking understanding. That immediately raises a number of questions about the nature of faith and its relationship to human cognition, though. I won’t pretend to have objective answers to those questions. Far be it for me to try representing Christians from various traditions and with a wide range of personality types, life experiences, and the like. What I can confidently speak to is my own experience. For me faith isn’t irrational. It’s neither contrary to truth as I understand it nor nonsensical.²2.That is, faith isn’t stubbornly affirming the truth of a thing I know to be false nor something like asking if God can make a round square. Yet I also readily acknowledge that my faith isn’t totally rational, either. Read more

Preface.¹

Yet again I’m coming to a realization that my faith is unusual.

1.This is Part 3 of The Church and the Life of the Mind series. My reasoning here builds upon the previous entries. Here are links to those posts:
Why Am I So Protective About This Issue?
Reflections on a Faithful Discourse of InquiryMost Christians seem to think that a person who’s seriously wrestling with doubt is in a bad place.² I disagree.

The opposite of faith isn’t doubt. The opposite of faith is unbelief. Read more

Preface.¹

Dr. Doug Downs had made a distinction between the Discourse of affirmation and the Discourse of inquiry. He uses the capital Ds because these paradigms aren’t merely ways of communicating but are rather “ways of being.”1.This is Part 2 of “The Church and the Life of the Mind” blog series. My reasoning here builds upon the previous entry. Click here to read Part 1 entitled “Why Am I So Protective About This Issue? (Miniblog #165).” The Discourse of affirmation declares, simplifies, and expects conformity. It values resolution, submission, stasis, and the pursuit of certainty. Its objective is crisp answers and devout faith. Received knowledge is accepted chiefly through affirmation of an authority. The Discourse of inquiry offers, complicates, and facilitates searching. It values curiosity, challenge, wrestling, and the existence of ambiguity. Its objective is nuanced questions and critical doubt. Received knowledge is accepted through inquiry into its validity. It’s these divergent Discourses that often account for the tragic conflict between faith and reason. Read more

Last night one of my friends, Alan Noble, who’s a PhD student with my wife at Baylor and also a regular contributor over at Christ and Pop Culture, tagged me in a link. It was to a Patheos post by Dr. Owen Strachan entitled “Is Mark Noll Right? Is There No Evangelical Mind?” This post is my cordial rebuttal. Before proceeding, however, Herbert Butterfield once wrote, “[T]he blindest of all blind are those who are unable to examine their own presuppositions, and blithely imagine therefore that they do not possess any.” Hoping to avoid that kind of myopic ignorance, not to mention uncharitable spirit, I want to be upfront about my perspective. Read more

Preface.¹

Yesterday a Facebook friend inquired, “What’s up with you and intellectualism in church? I’m not asking to criticize or provoke. You just seem hellbent on this. What’s the deal?” It’s a good question.1.It has been quite a while since I did a blog series, so I’ve decided to bust one out to start 2013. This is Part 1 in a series entitled “The Church and the Life of the Mind.” As is so often the case for all of us, I’m responding out of my natural temperament and to my life experiences. Something crucial to know about me is one of my strongest natural instincts is protection of the weak. Read more

If my experience is at all an accurate representation, most Christians fundamentally misunderstand biblical humility. We falsely think that to be humble is to be lowly, piously denying one’s talents while speaking poorly of himself or herself. It isn’t arrogant to acknowledge that you’re better at something than most people; what’s arrogant is incessantly announce that you’re better or to think that because you’re better at the thing you’re better than those people. Read more

For quite some time I’ve had trusted friends and mentors challenge me on the same point. They say I need to give your average Christian more credit for how much he/she actually does think. That is, just because it’s not intensive academic discourse doesn’t mean it’s not legitimate contemplation. Having pondered this for several years, I’ve finally come to a tentative conclusion: My sense is that for most Christians meaningful reflection is encouraged, deep thinking is seen as helpful albeit ultimately unnecessary, and rigorous thinking is discouraged. Read more

What do people mean when they say that God isn’t allowed in schools? A college friend who’s now a missionary asked the question this morning. He clarified, “Does it mean kids cannot pray in school? Or does it mean that they don’t start the school day off with a class prayer? That phrase is very vague.” Agreed. I’d like to take my best stab at it. Read more

Do you ever have old thoughts that sink in a new way or to a new degree? What once were obvious are suddenly profound. I had that yesterday. It was inspired by Philip Yancey’s observation, “All too often the church holds up a mirror reflecting back the society around it, rather than a window revealing a different way.” Perhaps the great and tragic irony of Christianity is that the less Christians there are the more we seem to live like Christ and the more Christians there are the less we seem to live like Christ. Read more