Richard L. Floyd

Who will be saved? Ruminations on Universalism

rfloyd@berkshire.rr.com — Thu, 05 May 2011 16:22:00 GMT

I haven’t read Rob Bell’s hot new book Love Wins (and I probably won’t) but we theologs owe him a debt for igniting a spark of interest in an old doctrine. When universalism makes the cover of Time magazine something is up (although does anyone actually read Time anymore?) And now newspaper covers consigning Osama bin Laden to hell have aroused more popular speculation.

Next month's MCCM Barth pastors' study session will take up the subject, and the Confessing Christ Open Forum on this site has been talking about it.

Was Christ's atoning death an expiation or a propitiation? Ruminations on the cross.

rfloyd@berkshire.rr.com — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 23:00:00 GMT

One of the perennial questions about the meaning of Christ's atoning death is “was it an expiation or a propitiation?” In other words, was the atonement performed towards us. or towards God?

A Fire Too Far: Ruminations on New Media and Christian Faith

rfloyd@berkshire.rr.com — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:54:00 GMT

In the days before the Internet and the 24/7 new cycle the announcement by an obscure Florida pastor that his church would be burning copies of the Koran might have attracted a column inch in the back pages of The Gainesville Daily Register, or get picked up as a nutty bit of ephemera by Paul Harvey.

No longer. Terry Jones has had his 15 days of celebrity, outraged pretty much everybody, and been addressed by the President of the United States, among other dignitaries.

Jones has also managed to convince inflammatory Republicans that there actually can be a fire too far. That anybody or anything could even momentarily unite the gladiators on both sides of the culture wars is worthy of note.

What particularly interests me is how new technologies reshape the way Christian faith is perceived.

Donald Bloesch: An Appreciation

rfloyd@berkshire.rr.com — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:09:00 GMT

UCC Theologian Donald Bloesch died a week ago at the age of 82. His friend and colleague Gabriel Fackre paid tribute to him in Christianity Today and commented that he was “underappreciated in his lifetime.”

The United Church of Christ, certainly never paid him much heed. Fackre said, “Don was never given the recognition due to him in the UCC because he was a feisty critic of the liberal establishment. We both were doing our best in the United Church of Christ to call it back to its original ecumenical vision.”

The Ministry and its Discontents: Pastors in Peril

rfloyd@berkshire.rr.com — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:41:00 GMT

More and more of my ministerial friends and colleagues seem to be in trouble with their congregations these days. I'm not talking about issues of clergy misconduct, just a breaking down of the trusting relationship between pastor and people. Here are some thoughts:

“The stones would cry out!” Thoughts for Palm Sunday on the Cradle and the Cross

rfloyd@berkshire.rr.com — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:58:00 GMT

At which end of Jesus’ life should we look for the reason we call him “Lord and Savor?” My friends in the Mercersburg Society put heavy stress on the Incarnation. Others, such as P. T. Forsyth, insist that we only can understand the Incarnation backwards in time, from the perspective of Christ’s death and resurrection.

From Gabriel Fackre, one of the early and still best narrative theologians, I have learned to be careful not to take any episode of the story to represent the whole.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Cross? The Bloodless Theology of the Mainline Church

rfloyd@berkshire.rr.com — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:12:00 GMT

If you were to worship in an American conservative evangelical church that hasn’t yet sold its soul to the prosperity Gospel, there is a good chance you may soon hear a sermon about the cross. Not so in many Mainline churches. I have been wondering why this is, given the cross' important place in the New Testament, especially in Paul’s writings, of which the Epistle Lesson appointed for tomorrow, 2 Corinthians 5:16-2, is a prime example.

Is God's Love Fair? Thoughts on The Story of the Prodigal Son

rfloyd@berkshire.rr.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:52:00 GMT

We all come before God with empty hands, with nothing to show but our sins, and still God the heavenly Father, like the earthly father in the parable, has been waiting and watching for us all along. Is such love fair?

God's Ways are not our Ways: Psalm 55: 8-9

rfloyd@berkshire.rr.com — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:12:00 GMT

The Psalm appointed for this Sunday (tomorrow, actually) is Psalm 55, one of my (many) favorites. For those of us who have earned our bread as theologians and ministers of the church, and who sometimes assume an unhealthy knowledge and familiarity with the ways of God, there is a word here we need to hear again and again:

Pastors aren't Prophets: Some Unsolicited Advice to Newly-Minted Ministers

rfloyd@berkshire.rr.com — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:22:00 GMT

Too many of our new pastors in the mainline church leave the ministry after a few years. There are many reasons why this happens, but for whatever reason, it is not good.