Timothy Stoner

Paul and Rob at Mars Hill

Posted on 23. Jun, 2009 by Tim Stoner.

Paul appropriates what is good in the Athenian belief system. He does not jettison all of paganism as evil. Nor does he contend that they must burn down the temples, the scrolls, the ancient writings, nor stop dancing, or enjoying the plays, or the feasts. He recognizes that there is much truth embedded in culture. So he affirms what he can. This is where Rob Bell and Paul can properly be compared. But they diverge dramatically in their motivation for the affirmation. and in what they say immediately afterwards

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The God Who Smokes

Posted on 17. Jun, 2009 by Tim Stoner.

My childhood struggle with stuttering and my discovery of the holy, unsentimental love of God kicks starts this autobiographical evaluation of “hot” issues facing thinking Christians. This leads to Velvet Rembrandts: why we don’t get to repaint every theological painting in the attic, then winds around to discussing how God can be Good, but not so Nice or Safe, and how Jesus is both compelling, troubling and heroic. Chapters on sex, and my friendship with a homosexual colleague dying of AIDS lead to pondering the role of art and beauty. I conclude with an honest look at the inevitability of final judgment, and, finally, our inconsolable, not so secret, longing for Father and Home.

Woven throughout is a critique of the basic assumptions and core values of Emergent theology. This is not a diatribe. My goal is to offer a biblical and cultural-current evaluation of its dangerous drift while also celebrating where it gets it right.

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