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The Evangelical Liberal is a blog to explore more open and liberated ways of being a Christian, particularly for those who have struggled to find their way within the evangelical tradition. Read more-
Recent Posts
- “Up, civil unrest!” (an Easter-ish reflection)
- Still Evangelical Liberal after all these years?
- Reasons to be hopeful?
- Covid questions – 3. What kind of God would send a pandemic?
- Covid questions – 2. Is it sent by God to punish sin?
- Covid questions – 1. Is it the end of the world?
- All together at the cross
- Does light overcome darkness?
- God bless America
- The Penitent Thief – a Good Friday reflection
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Category Archives: Emerging
Books: ‘How (not) to speak of God’, by Peter Rollins
I started this review over 3 years ago. Perhaps the length of time I’ve taken to complete it is an indication of how difficult it is to sum up this book in words… or perhaps it’s just a sign of … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews, Emerging, Post-modernism, Spirituality
Tagged Brian McLaren, emerging conversation, Meister Eckhart, paradox, Pete Rollins, post-modernism
4 Comments
The reality gap revisited – banning ‘should’ and ‘ought’
I’m not generally in favour of banning anything. Nonetheless, in my view ‘should’ should be removed from the dictionary, and ‘ought’ ought to be banned. 😉 We’ve probably all heard countless well-meaning Christian talks telling us what we ‘should’ (or … Continue reading
Posted in Emerging, Evangelicalism, Grace, Mental health, Psychology
Tagged blasphemy, emotions, mental health, OCD, oughtism, positive attitude, reality gap, should
2 Comments
The reality gap
So, good brothers and sisters in our Lord, we’re Christians saved by grace, Amen? We’ve been filled with God’s Spirit to develop in Christ’s character, love each other with Christ’s love, lead victorious lives of prayer and righteousness and good … Continue reading
Posted in Emerging, Evangelicalism, Grace, Psychology, The faith journey
Tagged grace, honesty, reality, reality gap, repentance, worship
15 Comments
The offence of the gospel, or just being offensive?
…Or, an appeal to be courteous in our dealings wherever possible. It’s a sad truism that Christians are not always known for their love, kindness and acceptance, but rather for their intolerance, bigotry, narrow-mindedness and even hate. One reason for … Continue reading
Posted in Controversies, Emerging, Evangelicalism, Grace, Love of God
Tagged Christ, courtesy, Galatians, offence of the cross, offensiveness, rudeness, Syrophoenician woman
5 Comments
Spiritual warfare – moving beyond demons in the closet
I said recently that nowadays I tend to steer well clear of anything to do with spiritual warfare. Back in my more charismatic days, 15 or so years ago, I was taught that we were all engaged in an on-going … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Controversies, Emerging, Evil, Hell, Mental health, Psychology
Tagged C.S. Lewis, charismatic, demons, entropy, exorcism, Frank Peretti, Legion, M. Scott Peck, mental health, possession, Satan, Screwtape, spiritual warfare, strongholds, the devil
15 Comments
Towards a contemplative mind, or moving beyond facts
This is a follow-up to my previous post about moving on from old models of reality, in which I critiqued ‘evangelical modernism’ and suggested that our old paradigms need revising both in science and in faith. This time I’d like … Continue reading
Posted in Contemplative, Emerging, Post-modernism, Spirituality, Stages of faith, Truth
Tagged contemplative, dualistic, facts, illusion, interpretation, meaning, modernism, post-modernism, Richard Rohr, subjectivity, uncertainty
4 Comments
Moving on from old models of reality
When I was a child I thought like a child; when I became an adult, I put childish things away… In third-year chemistry at school we were taught that electrons orbit the nucleus of their atom in concentric ‘shells’ rather … Continue reading
Posted in Emerging, Post-modernism, Stages of faith, The faith journey, Truth
Tagged models of reality, modernism, Moving on, paradigm, post-modernism, science, worldview
7 Comments
Why I am (not), part II – charismatic / evangelical / liberal…
Last time I was looking at my Anglo-Catholic upbringing and subsequent late-teen explorations into atheism and alternative spiritualities. When I came back to Christian faith in my early 20s, it was from a desperate sense of the need for ‘salvation’ … Continue reading
Embracing the void
This is the sort-of culmination of my recent Lent posts on letting go of old certainties and moving on into a new and as yet unknown space. I once wrote a scathingly satirical (though not particularly good) poem about an … Continue reading
Posted in Church calendar, Contemplative, Dark night of the soul, Emerging, Prayer, Spirituality
Tagged blank, emptiness, fasting, giving up God, idolatry, Lent, mystery, Pete Rollins, silence, solitude, spiritual disciplines, the void
5 Comments
The Evangelical Liberal 