For everyone who’s wrestled with the church’s abuses but still earnestly hopes to find truth within its walls—who wants to untangle unbiblical threads of our faith without tearing apart the whole fabric; who wants to reconstruct a healthier, more vibrant church—you will absolutely love and be challenged by Can I Say That? The post Preston’s Top Picks – Vol. 5 appeared first on Theology in the raw ..read more

I don’t know if you remember, but last October I had Daniel Bannoura on Theology in the Raw (ep. #1122), and it became the most downloaded episode of 2023! Daniel also spoke at the Exiles conference back in April and gave a very challenging talk.  Anyway, Daniel and his friends launched a podcast called “Across... Read more » The post Preston’s Top Picks – Vol. 4 appeared first on Theology in the raw ..read more

This October (4-5), Theology in the Raw is hosting its 4th Exiles conference and its first ever 2-day event on the road! We’re so excited to engage in some of the most pressing conversations happening—or that should be happening—in the church today.  Our first session will dive deep into the need for Discipleship in this Election Year. Every four years, the U.S. goes through political turmoil and the church often gets caught up in the polarization. The 2020 election saw the church get torn apart with debates about masks, lock-downs, questions about race, and who we should vote for. While ..read more

How We are Formed by Christ in Being Aware of our own Sexual Desires As a professor of theology at a Christian university, I’ve grown accustomed to students dropping by my office hours intent on sharing with me some aspect of the terrain of their inner sexual desire. This is due, in part, to the fact that I teach a class called “Bible, Sexuality, and Gender.” I’ve even written a book that tackles aspects of the subject entitled The Gift of Thorns. Still, it’s also partly due (I suspect) to my clear insistence at the beginning of every semester that my students are always permitted to come ..read more

What’s a biblical view of manhood and womanhood? Toss out this bomb of a question in your next Bible study, and you’ll likely see it explode into a vast array of cultural stereotypes. Men like sports and adventure, while women like to talk and nurture children. Men are protectors and providers, while women are homemakers. Women are emotional, while men are not emotional—as if lust and anger aren’t emotions.  But there we go again: Men are more prone to lust and anger. Is this in the Bible? Are predispositions toward lust and anger biologically determined realities for men ..read more

For this month’s “Preston’s Picks,” I want to highlight an awesome book I’ve thoroughly enjoyed by Preston Perry. It’s titled: How to Tell the Truth: The Story of How God Saved Me to Win Hearts–Not Just Arguments I’ve got to admit, I was a bit nervous when Preston’s book showed up at my doorstep. The one thing I dislike more than sharing my faith is feeling guilty for not wanting to share my faith. I suspect many of you feel the same way. We love Jesus. We believe the gospel. We cherish the Bible. But for some reason, it’s hard for us to share our faith. If this is you (and this is definite ..read more

As you know, I consume a lot of books and podcasts. It’s not just part of my job, but part of my joy. I love reading and interacting with all kinds of ideas–especially controversial ones.  Untangling Critical Race Theory This is why I’m so excited to tell you about a brand new book which I recently read titled Untangling Critical Race Theory by my good friend Dr. Uszynski. Ed gave me an early copy of the book and I devoured it. It was so good, in fact, that I ended up writing a forward for the book. Ed is an evangelical Christian who’s been thinking through race conversions his enti ..read more

With the rise in access to technology, social media, and sexualized content in media, children are being exposed to sexual imagery, topics, and experiences at younger ages than ever before. At the same time, most Christian parents struggle to know when, how, and even if there is value in talking about sexuality prior to puberty.  Even when parents do see value in talking about sexuality with their kids, they often have questions about when to have these conversations and what topics to cover at each developmental stage. That’s why I’ve written a two-book series, Start Talking to ..read more

In my previous post, I analyzed the linguistic arguments concerning whether Paul is talking about hair style/length or head-coverings in 1 Cor 11:2-16. While both views have merit, I argued that based on Paul’s language alone, the head-covering view is more probable.  However, I invite the curious reader to check out the comments by Andrew Bartlett and Phil Payne, who both argue for the hair length/style view and, especially in the case of Phil, offer extensive reasons why.  In this post, I want to look at arguments based on history and culture for these two views. I’ll start by summ ..read more

As you know, I’m an avid reader. It’s part of my job. But it’s also something I love to do. In my free time. Work time. Laying by the pool time. I love to read.  So, periodically –let’s say, once a month or so–I’m going to talk about some books or authors that I’m currently reading, or ones that I’ve found particularly helpful in the past or present.  For this first “Preston’s Top Pick” post, I want to highlight a lesser known scholar whose work I’ve benefited from greatly. His name is Bruce Winter. Bruce is an Australian New Testament scholar who received his Ph.D. from Macquar ..read more