God’s Violence in the Old Testament, Part 3: Possible Solutions
This post is a continuation of my previous two posts. Together they are an excerpt from one chapter of my new book, Making Sense of the Bible (HarperOne, 2014). The book…
God’s Violence in the Old Testament, Part 2: Possible Solutions
In my last post, I mentioned three categories of violence attributed to God in the Old Testament that leave people scratching their heads. These are crimes for which the…
God’s Violence in the Old Testament: The Problem
Among the questions I’m most often asked about the Bible is this one: “Why does God seem so loving in the New Testament but angry, harsh, and vengeful in the Old…
Visiting Wesley's England
As I prepare for tomorrow's webinar on my upcoming book, Revival, I wanted to share with you some special photos from my travels last year to England. The first five photos are…
A Faith Uniting Head and Heart
One of the defining marks of John Wesley’s own faith and of the eighteenth-century Methodist revival was that it involved not only the emotions but also the…
Travel Photos From Greece and Turkey
I have just returned from a trip retracing Paul's journeys. Our team flew 6,200 miles to get to Perge, Turkey, where we began filming. We then travelled by bus and plane another…
John Wesley for a Divisive World
In one of his most famous sermons, “Catholic Spirit,” John Wesley wrote, “Though we can’t think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart…
Who Really Wrote Paul's Letters?
I’m currently in Turkey, Greece, and Italy retracing the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. I thought this was a great occasion to include an excerpt from the chapter…
A Response to Rob Renfroe's Open Letter
Yesterday Rob Renfroe, a United Methodist pastor and the president of Good News, sent me a letter (found here) with a critique of the document A Way Forward (which you can read…
A Way Forward for a United Methodism?
Over the last couple of months, a group of 80 United Methodist pastors have been meeting by conference call to discuss their response to clergy in the UMC who have officiated at…