I’ve been reflecting on why passive-aggressive relational postures seem to be pervasive among American evangelicals.  There are likely dozens of reasons why this is the case.  I’ll only mention two, however, in trying to capture what makes our culture tick and why the notion of cruciformity (living in the shape of the cross) gets confused. […]

In giving some thought to passive-aggressive relational postures, I’m wondering if this phenomenon ever shows up in spontaneous prayers in church settings.  Do evangelical Christians pray passive-aggressively? It certainly seems that we sometimes pray manipulatively, use hedging speech, and say things we don’t really mean, but do passive-aggressive relational strategies ever manifest themselves when we pray?  If […]

I stated the other day that passive-aggressive relational postures pervade American middle-class white churches.  This is, of course, a completely unscientific opinion.  It’s an observation from my experience, but it seems common enough to generalize safely. I’m writing about this not to condemn middle-class white (Christian and non-Christian) Americans, but to examine and identify destructively […]

I’m not even an amateur psychologist, so there are likely other and better definitions and descriptions of passive-aggressive attitudes and behaviors, but I’ll attempt to describe the phenomenon briefly in my own terms. Further, I’ll speak of  “relational postures,” since that captures how people position themselves toward others–both their attitudes and attendant behaviors. The phenomenon […]

Words are a big deal.  They matter.  But words can be weird. Among many others, here are just a few of the linguistic mysteries (linguisteries?) that furrow my (considerable) brow. Why is it that if I am listless, I may or not have a list?  In fact, I can be both listless and holding in my […]

A few weeks ago I wrote about how we often confuse or pervert Christian relational postures and character traits.  I noted that self-loathing is often regarded as humility. There are many other examples of this, I’m sure, but one that has occupied my mind for some time now is how passive-aggression or self-pity is mistaken […]

Paul’s comments in Galatians 3:11-12 are often read as contrasting the Mosaic Law with the Christian gospel, or Judaism and Christianity.  I’ve noted recently that I think this is a misreading, both of Paul in general and Galatians in particular. In my opinion, Paul is arguing with reference to the specific choice before his Galatian […]

In some of his recent works, N. T. Wright has noted that the historic creeds of the church leave Israel out entirely.  Thinking theologically apart from Israel results in a hollowed-out vision of the church’s identity and mission and tends toward a gnosticized conception of history, salvation, and Christian existence. Wright’s point is largely that […]

As I wrote yesterday, I regard pistis Christou to be a deliberately ambiguous expression whereby Paul captures Jesus’ own saving faithfulness.  That is, God accomplishes the salvation of his people through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah.  Further, the phrase points to the self-expending and self-giving of Jesus as paradigmatic for Christian faithfulness.  In this […]

At the conference on Galatians and Christian Theology last week in St. Andrews, John Barclay and Richard Hays had a lively exchange over the pistis Christou formulations in Paul.  Such discussions always begin with the promise that one more time round will settle it for good, and always end with all sides re-affirming their original […]