Questioning faith: Peaceable Christian theology for the 21st century

Blogging through the key convictions. This is a series of blog posts where I reflect candidly on series of questions about faith convictions. I mean “questioning faith” in two senses: (1) Asking questions of the Christian faith. (2) Cultivating a faith that embraces asking questions as part of the quest for understanding and truth. The initial series includes an introduction and posts on 25 questions. Hopefully, I will periodically add posts as questions capture my imagination—Ted Grimsrud, November 1, 2022

  1. Questioning faith: Introduction to blogging through key convictions [November 2, 2022]
  2. Why is the typical Christian understanding of “God” such a problem? [November 4, 2022]
  3. In what sense is Jesus our “savior”? [November 7, 2022]
  4. How can an uninspired Bible be truthful? [November 10, 2022]
  5. What is the Holy Spirit? How does it work in the actual world we live in? [November 14, 2022]
  6. Is there a place for prayer in a world with a weak God? [November 17, 2022]
  7. Why did Christianity move so far away from the message of Jesus? [November 21, 2022]
  8. How do we get the Bible right? [December 5, 2022]
  9. Is Jesus God? [December 8, 2022]
  10. Is Jesus the only way to salvation? [December 12, 2022]
  11. What are Christians saved from? [December 15, 2022]
  12. Was Jesus raised from the dead in history? [December 19, 2022]
  13. Did Jesus (and the early Christians) actually expect him to return soon? [December 23, 2022]
  14. Is Christian theology war theology? [January 9. 2023]
  15. How does Christian pacifism work? [January 29, 2023]
  16. Is love weak? [March 28, 2023]
  17. Can we have a good God in a world full of evil?
  18. Is there a case for Christian pantheism?
  19. What should we do with the violence in the Old Testament?
  20. Why do so many Christians support warism?
  21. Are we inherently violent?
  22. Is there a Christian political philosophy, or, Are Christianity and anarchism compatible?
  23. Why is “”church” an unresolvable contradiction?
  24. How should we understand the “judgment” in the book of Revelation?
  25. Why don’t we know how things will end?

Other possible questions

Can you have idolatry with a weak God?

Can in interventionist God be loving?

Is Paul an ally or opponent?

Does the Trinity make sense? Should it?

How can Christians be religious pluralists?

Can a Christian be an American patriot?

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good people do bad things?

How might justice be exercised in our society in face of wrongdoing? Why is punishment wrong and counterproductive?

Why is violence counterproductive? How might nonviolence work? Why is war always wrong?

How do we cultivate and exercise freedom in a world of domination and fallen Powers?

Why is domination the most fundamental human problem? How do we navigate the tensions among various liberation impulses (e.g., white supremacy, patriarchy, classism, heterosexism, warism)?

How do we best think about the climate crisis and environmental devastation is general?

How might we live with our guilt/responsibility as white, wealthy, male, Americans?

Must Jesus’s followers be monotheists?