Leaving Evangelicalism wasn’t easy and it didn’t come overnight either. I come from a family of extremely dedicated evangelicals. My parents even started an evangelical home church in the second...
Christ as the Absence of God
What I’m going to write here may sound controversial to some. But it is necessary that I do this. Before I plunge ahead, I think it is important to state...
Bonhoeffer, Religionlessness, and Cross Theology
Bonhoeffer's concept of religionlessness should be understood within the framework of his theology of the cross.
Waarom gelovigen gevoelig zijn voor populisme
Far from preserving one from the world, being a believer puts people at risk to being sensitive to populism.
Losing My Religion: The 3 Most Effective Ways to Lose Your Faith
People often think that the greatest dangers to losing one’s faith lie in the world. The world offers all kinds of temptation that lure the Christian away from pure devotion...
How Bonhoeffer Can Be an Ally for Trump Voters
How Bonhoeffer can be an ally for Trump-voting evangelicals: x Learning true courage x Learning to understand the times; DB did not struggle against loss of political influence x Learning...
Theodicy: Seeing the Theo in It
Theodicy, a complicated word for an even more complicated question: how can a good and omnipotent God allow the existence of evil in the world? As long as people have...
Theology of the Cross or Theology of Glory? You Choose!
Recently someone asked me about the difference between a theology of the cross and a theology of glory. Let me briefly explain. The theology of the cross has its roots...
Bonhoeffer’s Theology of the Cross
Bonhoeffer’s theology is a modern version of Luther’s theology of the cross. It is not merely a slavishly reworked version but constitutes a highly original contribution to the conversation that...
Bonhoeffer’s Dialectical Christocentrism
For those who are interested, here is a piece that explains what my Bonhoeffer dissertation is all about and what will determine my theological program after that. It may be a...
Encountering Jesus in the Gospel of Mark
The strange Jesus of Mark After not having read the Gospels for a few years and after abandoning the standard paradigm of already knowing who Jesus is and what the text means...
Spellbound by the Gospel: What the Gospel Is and What It Isn’t
My recent blogpost over at Whiteboard//Blip (Part I and Part II). Part I, What the Gospel is Recently one of my best friends, who is involved in Christian ministry at a...
Theological 10-step Guide to the Evolution Theory for Conservatives
Here is a little ten-step guide for conservative believers to start thinking seriously about the evolution theory. Since I am a theologian, this is an account that touches primarily on...
Het hart van de zaak: waarom apologetiek faalt te overtuigen
The Heart of the Matter: Why Apologetics Fails to Convince This is the pre-editorial version of my recent (Dutch language) article for newspaper Reformatorisch Dagblad, a conservative newspaper in the Netherlands,...
The Cost of Discipleship
The following is my blogpost for the Bethel Seminary admissions Blog on June 25th 2014 “The Cost of Discipleship” is the wrongly translated title of Bonhoeffer’s “Nachfolge.” It should simply...