Romans 9-11: An Argument Leading to Inclusion of All

One of the reasons I adore work as a school chaplain is because of the quality and commitment of the colleagues I work with. Recently, a colleague of mine who teaches English asked me to give him some insight into the importance of Romans 9:25: "I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved." He asked because it is the epigraph to a novel they are teaching: Toni Morrison's "Beloved". 

His very astute question led me to write an essay I have meant to write for a long time. This essay has Romans 9.25 at the heart of how Paul uses rhetoric in the book of Romans to lead the reader to an expansive vision of God's all-embracing Love for humanity, revealed in Jesus Christ. If I had to sum it up, here is my one-sentence summary:

Romans 9.25 is part of Paul's assurance that all humans are God's children and recipients of God's Love, despite all the rhetoric of exclusion that is raised against them.

But this summary is rather easy to write, but hard to square with some of the evidence found in the next of Romans. So to understand how Romans 9.25 functions as part of the overall argument, we need to dig in:

Not the Droids you are looking for: Beyond A.I. hype

For all you who are worried about the current iterations of AI taking over everything or destroying everything: These are not the Droids you are looking for. I use AI for many routine tasks in school and pastoral ministry, from scanning papers for cheating and AI use, to research assistant tasks, to news aggregation, to coding, to image and audio generation. I use several platforms of AI, both paid and free versions. And while the surface level "wow" factor has become much more impressive over the last 5 years, the error correction has stayed the same, or become worse over the same time.

This is because AI's are "algorithmically lazy" and will generate responses it thinks are "good enough" to fool the average user most of the time, instead of spending the compute power to error correct and be accurate. AI relies on you being lazy and uninformed so it can spew results that are lazy and uninformed, all in an effort to reduce power and energy use, to boost profits and reduce losses for its bosses.

Dear Nathan: An Open Letter to non-Pentecostals from a Pentecostal

Every now and then, I run into a pastor from the Pentecostal denomination "The Assemblies of God" (AG), and they are often surprised that I know a great deal about their religious tradition. In fact, I once was "Pentecostal adjacent" in my theology and spiritual orientation. Indeed, I still believe it is normal for the Holy Spirit to do amazing things in the lives of those who are open to Her presence and power working through them (including healing, casting out evil, inspiring mystical experience, and speaking through them in known and unknown languages). Even though I am fairly progressive, inclusive, and academic by nature, I think that a robust faith in the Trinity revealed in Jesus entails a robust experience of the Divine Spirit.

The reason why I know so much about the AG is that in the mid-1990's a pentecostal college professor was my friend and a member of my extended family. His name was Dr. Steve Badger, and he passed away in 2021. At the time I knew him, I was a budding theology student who had just learned Greek, as well as a social worker, and a volunteer youth minister. It was Dr. Badger, and several of his friends at AGTS (Assemblies of God Theological Seminary), who first introduced me to systematic theology and bought me my first theology books. Steve represented a beautiful fusion of the intellectual and experiential pursuit of Christ, and he became an integral part of my circuitous path to the Episcopal priesthood and school chaplaincy. 

Panentheism: Why matter Matters

In our modern age, we are often haunted by a "disenchanted" world: A cosmos where matter is viewed as mere mechanical "stuff" and God is reimagined as a distant watchmaker who has long since retreated from his creation. This theological poverty, which often drifts into a "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism," leaves many feeling spiritually homeless in a universe that seems indifferent to our existence. However, the ancient Christian worldview offers a far more vibrant and "thick" description of reality. By returning to the conviction that the Infinite Creator is not just "out there" but "in here," upholding every atom by the power of the Spirit, we find ourselves standing on holy ground. As the Apostle Paul reminded the philosophers of Athens, God is the one in whom "we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

The thoughts presented here are an invitation to move beyond the shallow waters of modern nominalism and dive into the deep pool of Panentheism, Theosis, and Sacraments. We will explore how the ancient Church understood salvation not as a legal transaction in a heavenly courtroom, but as a transfiguring union with God: A process where we become, as the Apostle Peter wrote, "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). We will see how the physical world, far from being a distraction from the spiritual life, is actually the primary laboratory of God's presence, where humble elements like bread, wine, and water become the conduits of Divine energy. Drawing on the insights of thinkers like St. Athanasius, who famously argued that "God became human so that humans might become divine", we find that matter is not a prison for the soul but a "theophany", a visible showing of God’s invisible glory.

As we navigate the crucial distinction between a God who is separate from creation and a God who is distinct within it, we begin to see that the physical universe is the perfect vessel for Divine self-expression. Matter matters because it is the medium through which the infinite Creator relates to the finite creature, a truth that reaches its breathtaking climax in the person of Jesus Christ. For the curious mind seeking a faith that is both intellectually rigorous and deeply embodied, it becomes evident that panentheism is a logical corollary which naturally flows from the Trinity and Incarnation.

Christarchy forms Christlike Communities

In the words of the musical prophet Bob Dylan, we all "gotta serve somebody". It is not a question of whether we will serve, but who or what we serve. Some think they can live a naive form of "anarchy" in which they are ruled by nothing and no one. But even if we think we live an "autarchy" (where we are ruled by self alone), we will find we are really ruled by our own compulsions and cravings, fears and hatreds. In contrast to all the idols and addictions, rulers and forces of this world— power, pleasure, praise, pride, popularity, and possessions— we seek to follow Christ alone. Thus, Christarchy is our commitment to serve Christ as the Source, Ruler, and Goal of every dimension of life. 

Over the last two decades I have developed a Prayermap as my primary way to implement Christarchy and practice Christ in my everyday life and community. The ultimate purpose of Christarchy is to form Christlike Communities of persons who embody Christ. As C.S. Lewis has said about our common life in Christ's Body: "The Church exists for nothing else but to draw [people] into Christ, to make them little christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose." This final goal of becoming "little christs" can be summed up in the ten points of C.H.R.I.S.T.L.I.K.E.:

• CHRISTOCENTRIC: We immerse ourselves in the Story of Jesus so we can interpret Scripture and History with a Christward trajectory.

• HEALING: We follow Christ in healing God's children, our communities, and all creation, so we all become healthy, fruitful, and creative.

• RECONCILING: We restore right relationships with God, each other, and ourselves through forgiveness, community building, and character formation.

• INCARNATIONAL: We unite humanity and God in a panentheistic vision of creation by embodying Christ as members of his social body. 

• SACRAMENTAL: We focus Christ's Light, to magnify his Love, and experience his Life, here and now, in ritual and action.

• TRINITARIAN: We model our communities on the God of Love who is unity and diversity in Godself as Father, Son, and Spirit.

• LIBERATING: We protest unjust powers and overcome systemic evils that oppress God's children and destroy God's creation.

• INSPIRED: We overflow with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in spiritual practice, mystical experience, and gifts for ministry.

• KATHOLIC: We pursue Christ's mission to share all of God's grace with all people, in all of creation, until God is all in all in apokatastasis.

• EMBRACING: We include all that is good and true and beautiful in Christ from all arts and sciences, cultures and religions.

Each of these concepts is deep and rich, inviting us into the Divine Life of Jesus Christ. Each concept could be— and has been— explored in their own essays and chapters and books written across Christian history. However, to orient ourselves to each of these concepts, we will provide a brief introduction and Scriptural basis to explore the meaning of these concepts below, so we can see how "Christarchy forms Christlike Communities". The perceptive reader will note that five of these concepts are mainly about our worldview and theology: Christocentric, Incarnational, Trinitarian, Katholic, and Embracing. The other five concepts are primarily about how we practice: Healing, Reconciling, Sacramental, Liberating, and Inspired. Together these outline a "faith and practice" which is effective in helping us embody Christ. So let's dive in:

Does God's Love serve Power, or Power serve Love?

Many of us who believe in God would list a similar set of attributes of what make God an Ultimate Reality worthy of the title "God". We may say God is eternal, non-material, all powerful, all knowing, and all good. God stands apart from all other beings as the Source of Being itself, the Creator of all things that are not Godself. All good and true. But is it possible for two people to hold all these views in common, and yet have diametrically opposed views of how God acts, and why God treats us the way God does? 

Yes. How we order and prioritize God's attributes can result in a radically different vision of God. We don't tend to talk about this much, and we assume that all Christians or all Theists worship the same God. But could it be the case that, actually, we worship totally different images of the same God? Nothing brings out this divide better than the question: Does God's Love serve Power, or Power serve Love?