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Triumphalist uses of John 3:16 contradict the verse's historical context.

Biblical theologian Christa McKirland argues that it is.

Many professions require testing—including Son of God.

Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return. But my sermons!

While teaching in a prison, I got to know a gardener.

This dad, who came to Wee Worship with three young sons, was one of the most miserable people I’ve encountered at church. Wee Worship is a service that embraces the needs and gifts of very young children. In addition to looking glum and avoiding eye contact, the dad appeared to be overwhelmed and stressed to the max by the three boys. Conversation was forced and difficult.

When our beloved buildings are gone, what will endure is relationship.

Iam more than a little obsessed with bodies and their limits and possibilities. Maybe it’s because my own body gives me so much trouble. (I have complex Crohn’s disease and live with the aftereffects of extensive bowel surgery.) Maybe it’s because I think Ludwig Wittgenstein was onto something when he said, “The human body is the best picture of the human soul.”

If God gives growth and growth means change, the implications are broad.

Systematic: an organized set of doctrines, ideas, or principles usually intended to explain the arrangement or working of a systemic whole.

SEVERAL TIMES A YEAR I welcome students into a classroom where they are introduced to theology. They are supposed to learn the history of Christian doctrines, understand their interrelationships, and begin to recognize the theologies that shape them even as they encounter the theologies of others.