Kingdom of God

I have been rather bothered recently by the way in which the emerging church - though not only the emerging church - makes use of the concept of the ‘kingdom of God’ to define its mission, the idea being that the task of the church is to extend or build the kingdom of God on earth. Very often there is an implicit polemical aspect to the usage: we build the kingdom of God rather than merely convert people; or we are more concerned about the concrete social dimension of the kingdom on earth than the rarefied - if not mind-numbing - prospect of an eternity in heaven. The phrase ‘kingdom of God’ appears to capture for us something of the down-to-earth political and moral relevance of the gospel that we are so anxious to reintroduce into Christian discourse; and it gives substantial theological justification for this shift in missional focus. But I am not at all sure that this is how the term works biblically.

continue reading "New creation, Spirit, blessing and kingdom: a clarification of terminology"

I'm thinking about starting a new website. FaithCommons has done well, these past three years, and it probably has more life in it. But I want to open another path, one that might be difficult to begin unless it has its own space.

The focus of the site will be human spirituality and its development. And the premise of it is that spiritual maturity makes possible the highest that humans and humanity can attain, that of enlightenment, salvation, nirvana and the kingdom of God.

continue reading "Thinking About Starting a New Website"

The Kingdom of God¹ begins as a tiny seed—a small aha!—and grows into a large tree joining the material with the ethereal. New Life begins with the fertilization of the seed or egg. The seed draws initial sustenance from its internal energy source until it can establish its roots in the material world and extend its foliage into the ethereal. Both are necessary for Life.

continue reading "The Kingdom of God Begins With a Seed"

My sister lost her husband of thirty-one years last week. It all happened rather quickly and Tuesday was the quickest that we could get out to see her to share some grief, and to begin to find some meaning for it all—especially for her as she begins to forge a new identity as half of what was, toward all of what needs becoming. But to some extent, every one who had any ties of consciousness with Fred needs to readjust to the loss, because true friends and loved ones are actually a part of us in this respect—we take each other into our selves. She has received many comments, cards, phone calls, and emails as evidence to the often surprising extent to which one person can affect many others through their lives, and consequently, also in their death.

continue reading "Life, Death, Grief, and Finding Meaning in the Commons"

Richard Eric Gunby, while politely acknowledging that my heart seems to be in the right place, has taken issue with a statement that I made in the ‘NT Wright, mission, and the big red balloon’ post. In response to my assertion that ‘There is no vision of the whole earth being brought under the kingship of God’, he points out that Psalm 2 and Psalm 22:27-31 appear to speak quite unequivocally of God’s future reign over the nations and quotes Hodge, Spurgeon, Warfield, and Rushdoony to that effect.

continue reading "Psalms 2 and 22 and the conversion of the whole world"

Richard Eric Gunby, while politely acknowledging that my heart seems to be in the right place, has taken issue with a statement that I made in the ‘NT Wright, mission, and the big red balloon’ post. In response to my assertion that ‘There is no vision of the whole earth being brought under the kingship of God’, he points out that Psalm 2 and Psalm 22:27-31 appear to speak quite unequivocally of God’s future reign over the nations and quotes Hodge, Spurgeon, Warfield, and Rushdoony to that effect.

continue reading "Psalms 2 and 22 and the conversion of the whole world"

This is an attempt, in response to some perceptive comments by Chris Tilling and samlcarr on the recent ‘NT Wright and the confusion of kingdom and new creation’ post, to clarify how I understand the relation between ‘kingdom of God’ and ‘new creation’. These two themes have become central to the thinking of the emerging church, but I’m not sure that the tendency to treat them as broadly synonymous does justice to their biblical provenance.

continue reading "New creation and the kingdom of God"

This is an attempt, in response to some perceptive comments by Chris Tilling and samlcarr on the recent ‘NT Wright and the confusion of kingdom and new creation’ post, to clarify how I understand the relation between ‘kingdom of God’ and ‘new creation’. These two themes have become central to the thinking of the emerging church, but I’m not sure that the tendency to treat them as broadly synonymous does justice to their biblical provenance.

continue reading "New creation and the kingdom of God"