Patheos | Paperback Theology
588 FOLLOWERS
Paperback Theology is a place to talk about religion, politics (especially politics), art, culture, spirituality, and the church. This blog exists for those of us who are not the world’s leading expert on anything, and yet we find that we are insatiably inquisitive about nearly everything on the planet, particularly from the perspective of its relationship to God.
Patheos | Paperback Theology
4M ago
If you’re heavily involved in a church congregation right now, you might soon be asked to attend some kind of strategic planning and goal-setting process for 2024. My advice would be: don’t go. Not only that, I’d try to convince your leadership not to set goals this year at all, or ever again for that ..read more
Patheos | Paperback Theology
4M ago
I’m a mid-fifties white male weaned on rock and roll. My top five all-time favorite artists are firmly cliche: Wilco, U2, Radiohead, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, & the Boss. If you knew those were my bands, you could correctly reverse-engineer my ethnography within a few percentage points. All that to say I’m probably the ..read more
Patheos | Paperback Theology
1y ago
I still remember when Glen Beck told viewers of his (then) daily FOXNews show something to the effect of: if the pastor of your church talks about the importance of social justice, then you need to find a new church. That was years ago, and I’ve heard it said time and time again by conservative ..read more
Patheos | Paperback Theology
1y ago
The 2023 Asbury revival will likely become the release valve that dissipates the energies of change created by Black Lives Matter and Me Too movements, as well as the tensions arising from white evangelicalism’s brazen embrace of Trumpism and Christian Nationalism. The last major Asbury revival was in 1970. At the time, the Civil Rights ..read more
Patheos | Paperback Theology
1y ago
Football is in my blood. My dad was a high-school football coach. My childhood hero was Terry Bradshaw. Not to brag, but I was an elementary school flag football prodigy (I peaked athletically in the 6th grade). As a lifelong fan of Kansas State and Chiefs football, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t ..read more
Patheos | Paperback Theology
2y ago
April Fools’ Day bothers me for several reasons. First, is there an apostrophe or no apostrophe? Is it acceptable to write “April Fools Day,” sans apostrophe? And if we are to go with an apostrophe, where do you put it? “April Fool’s Day” or “April Fools’ Day”? I’m pretty sure it is the latter, which ..read more
Patheos | Paperback Theology
2y ago
I don’t know how many pundits I’ve heard as they attempt to climb inside Putin’s head to find some rationale for his murderous attack on Ukraine, but the number is high. In every case I end up talking back to them, trying to convince them that history, ambition, and personal grievance barely scratch the surface ..read more
Patheos | Paperback Theology
2y ago
It was a “Farewell Rob Bell” moment for the neo-Reformed harbingers of orthodoxy. I have always like Matt Chandler, but his recent assertion (in a clipped video posted to TikTok) that those who deconstruct their Christian faith just want to be in on the sexy thing, and that one cannot deconstruct an authentic experience of ..read more
Patheos | Paperback Theology
2y ago
… There’s a big Critical Race Theory kerfuffle happening right now around an op-ed in the Washington Post by Marc A. Thiessen, with an assist from Danielle Pletko (both from the American Enterprise Institute), and from Allen Guelzo (Princeton) whose field is not philosophy, but history. Let me say up front that I don’t use ..read more
Patheos | Paperback Theology
2y ago
“And the moon is a sliver of silver, like a shaving that fell on the floor of a Carpenter’s shop; and every house must have it’s builder; and I awoke in the house of God.” – Rich Mullins This has to be one of the near perfect opening lines to a song I’ve ever heard ..read more