About Greg Boyd....

A few weeks ago I received an email notification about an update on Greg Boyd's blog.  The post was about The American Patriot's Bible...and his comments on and feelings about it.  He posted several times on the topic.  It triggered the thought process that triggered this series. 

I've written about Pastor Boyd here before.  He is top notch guy; a really smart guy with a Ph.D from Princeton Theological Seminary and M.Div. from Yale Divinity School.  He was a professor of theology for 16 years at Bethel University (St. Paul, MN) where he received the Teaching Excellence Award and Campus Leadership Award.  Plus,  he is founder and pastor of a mega church in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a dad...a grandfather...an all around interesting guy. 

In an article I came upon just a few minutes ago, he talks about how he felt led, along with 3 other couples, to move to inner city St. Paul...to live and minister there.  Putting his money where his mouth is.  What is it the Bible says about faith without works being dead....
Following is a snippet from the article:

Six years ago, we all began to feel that God was calling us to move out of the suburbs into the city. We now live on the same city street within a couple blocks of each other. Until a decade and a half ago, I dreamed of living far out in the country, atop a mountain or in an isolated cabin in the middle of a deep forest. But now I find myself living in the middle of a densely populated city surrounded by an amazing diversity of people—and I love it.

As a result of our new proximity, the group's level of interdependence has increased even more. We now share everything from cars and shovels to salt, salad dressing and sometimes even bathroom facilities (we all live in older houses where things don't always work). Our new location has also opened up new ministry opportunities. For example, we now partner with a nonprofit social service agency that serves elderly and mentally disabled shut-ins in the inner city. As needs arise, we get together to repair homes, mow lawns, shovel snow, buy groceries, lead Bible studies or just hang out with the shut-ins. You get the picture.

I have been acquainted with his ministry for a while now....beginning several years ago when I dipped my toe into the stream of apostasy known as open theism.  Boyd is the most well know teacher of open theism...with several books and quite a bit of mean spirited cult watcher type fodder going around the internet from those who see it as a big...and I do mean BIG...theological no-no.  But spurred on by his post, I did some "research" about The American Patriots Bible and came across a lot of information that I thought might make an interesting series.  That is, if I can figure out how to clump it so it follows some coherent kind of order.  I'll try...but I'm not promising anything, mind you. 

So in the midst of all this googling and looking through old files I have on my computer, I came across some interesting info about his book, The Myth of a Christian Nation."  It seems it caused quite the stir....quite....but that was the second "stir" he was involved in.  His first "stir" was back in the day when he began to teach open theism. 

More about that.....tomorrow......