All in Theology

Doing What Everyone Else Does, Plus Jesus: A Critique of the "Christian Worldview"

Doing What Everyone Else Does, Plus Jesus: A Critique of the "Christian Worldview"

Michael Hansen
Theology, Art, Culture

I finished reading James K.A. Smith's book Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation a couple weeks ago. I would have to say that it is the best book I've read this year (so far). The book does a wonderful job at challenging the popular conversations surrounding "Christian Worldview" talk without being over critical while at the same time offering  an attractive alternative. Smith argues throughout the book that centering the Christian faith around something like a "worldview" has many pitfalls. Again, it should be noted that Smith is not advocating that we abandon the concept of developing a "Christian Worldview" but suggests that such a center cannot hold.

Liturgy Series: Part 1 – Apologetics

Liturgy Series: Part 1 – Apologetics

Michael Hansen
Theology

In the coming weeks I will be taking a look at different liturgical aspects of the historic Christian church. I hope this series will shed light on the different liturgical aspects in the church so that you (the reader) will find your participation in the liturgy of the church more fruitful and engaging.

Only the Trinity Will Work

Only the Trinity Will Work

Michael Hansen
Theology, Art, Culture

"Deep Comedy," according to Leithart, is something that can only be achieved in and through the Christian worldview. What is "deep comedy?" it is the world that the Bible says that we inhabit. The Bible, through the communication of the Trinitarian God, teaches that creation (the world we inhabit) need not be a perpetually decaying world.

The Grain of the Universe

Michael Hansen
Theology, Art

Far from disparaging the commands of God by ignoring them (like many reformed/pietists) or calling people to earn their salvation through adherence to a moral code (like Moral Therapeutic Deists), Smith shows that the purpose of the law is to subvert any claim on autonomy and direct the community of the church into a lifestyle that is aimed at the way the world is truly suppose to be; aimed at the Kingdom.

Contextual Uncleanness & God's Covenant in Ezekiel 36

Contextual Uncleanness & God's Covenant in Ezekiel 36

Joshua Torrey
Theology

17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. 18 Therefore I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. - Ezekiel 36:16-18

Give Thanks in Your Finitude

Michael Hansen
Theology, Art

In our Adamic nature we are prone to chafe under our limits (for this was how Satan tempted our parents in the garden: "You will be like God"), however, when we rest in the sovereignty of God we find that we can not only accept our role as limited creatures but actually rejoice therein!

I Love the Liturgy

Michael Hansen
Theology

A responsive & corporate liturgy takes the focus away from the individual and paradoxically strengthens the individual. Conversely, a liturgy that caters to the individual ironically isolates the individual in the experience they are having.

That's Shocking!

Michael Hansen
Theology, Art, Culture

While truth in the form of theology & philosophy is very helpful it is stories that ultimately grab us! In fact it is stories that grab us first as children before we even have the capacity to understand theological treatises. Christians should not shy away from stories but instead embrace them and learn to tell them better!

"That's Just Your Opinion"

Michael Hansen
Theology, Culture

Much of our post-modern world is very inconsistency in the way its views hold together. People aren't taught to think how economic policy and gay mirage hold together and are connected. That's why you can have "conservative" pundits claim that all they care about is the economy and want to leave the "moral" issues out of politics. 

Tossing TULIPs Helps No One

Tossing TULIPs Helps No One

Joshua Torrey
Theology

 Bible verses in themselves do no persuaded and change minds. They certainly don't alter ingrained theological patterns. It is the interpretation of these verses that define theology and it is these crucial interpretations that are effected by our presuppositions.

That Hardly Seems the Problem

Michael Hansen
Theology, Art

The Reformers did not exhaust the fullness of justification. There is indeed a robustly corporate view of justification that the Reformers–rightly preoccupied with Romish theological abuse–simply did not address explicitly in the 16th century. In this sense, Wright needs to be read and listened to attentively.

Load More