Geoffrey Holsclaw
God’s demonstration of love: “While we were still weak…Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5: 6). The character of love is revealed in the midst of weakness. • False love—as narcissism—preys on weakness rather than protecting it. • False love—as self-loathing—points out weakness rather than providing for it. • False love—as fear—hides from weakness rather than […]
Beginning again with God’s Love I’ve begun again to dive into God’s love—for me, for us, for everyone (and by “again” I mean perhaps for the first time as I continue to integrate the cognitive and affective aspects of life). Too often it feels that God’s love becomes an abstraction, separated from the concrete reality […]
Christian doctrine—at its best—leads us into mystery and prayer.But mystery isn’t a replacement for doctrine, or an excuse not to think theologically, or not provided arguments. The doctrines of the Trinity (3 person : 1 God) & Christology (2 natures : 1 persons) are sophisticated articulations that keep us from saying both TOO MUCH and […]
Does the bodily resurrection of Jesus matter for Christianity? Is a physical resurrection of the believers part of faith? It’s what we’ve been talking about this week. Many now say, “No. A physical resurrection is immaterial to the truth of Easter and the power of Christianity.” Marcus Borg is a good example. Here is what […]
Here is my annual reminder that it’s OK to still believe in the Jesus’ resurrection—and that it took a bodily form (see links for conversation). #1: It Doesn’t Make You Stupid You can affirm the bodily resurrection of Jesus while also broadly affirming science, while also being a rational and thoughtful person, while also having […]
This time of year, many progress-liberal minded Christians criticize the idea that God “turned away from” or “abandoned” Jesus on the cross. And most conservative minded Christians take the idea for granted, because God can’t look at sin. Did God abandon Jesus on the cross?Did the Father forsake the Son in death? Did God turn […]
Interesting that Faith, Hope, Grace, and Charity are women’s names, not men’s names (at least in English speaking West). Does this point to the feminization of the church in the West? Perhaps. But I doubt it. (picture credit: Faith, Hope and Charity, by James Christensen) Maybe the Work of God is Always A Critique of […]
Our clients’ relationships with God are not the sum total of their early human relationships, or the internalization of those relationships. While seemingly obvious from a theoretical perspective, extensive training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, without complementary experience in the spiritual disciples and spiritual direction, likely biases us toward reducing our client’s “God” to the internalized mother […]
Too often we focus on the JOB of parenting and lose sight of the JOY of parenting. What if our job was to be conduits of joy? Too often we focus on results, behaviors, outcomes. This feels like our job as parents—to churn out effective, well-adjusted, socially capable adults from the chaos of childhood impulses, […]