When I first typed out my editorial on viral non-evil, the coronavirus was still novel and the panic not quite a pandemic. But as I type now, close to a 1.5 million have died worldwide and the virus proliferates relentlessly, a conflagration with plenty of wood yet to burn as we await a vaccine and…

I am grateful to the organizers of this Areopagite for the invitation to consider this spiritually demanding question, one that reaches down into the heart of our confidence in the Good God, and in our constant need for repentance, confession and renewal. Of course such a question touches on complex doctrines—of sin, of providence, of…

Before I reveal the One Correct Way Christians ought to understand the coronavirus, let’s clear some brush out of the way and establish some basic principles. It would seem that something can be neither good nor bad, just existing. An icicle hanging off the edge of a roof seems devoid of moral valence—until it suddenly…

Jesus once told a parable about a farmer who sowed good seeds in his field. Once “the plants came up and bore grain,” however, his servant discovered that the field also contained weeds. The servant approached his master and asked him, “Where . . . did these weeds come from?” The good farmer replied, “An…

Every time there is a natural disaster the question of God’s goodness and the nature of evil resurfaces. How can a good God allow bad things to happen? Is what we experience as evil bad in itself, or is our suffering from it part of the fallen order of creation? What do we say when…

Nobody thinks that the ultimate consummation of the Kingdom God will be a place where rogue viruses kill hundreds of thousands of people, or hurricanes ravage whole communities, or cancer cuts lives short. So we Christians believe it is possible for there to be that kind of place. But was creation originally a place that…

Is the coronavirus evil? Daniel Harrell posed that question as editor in chief of Christianity Today. He stirred up a hornet’s nest. His editorial begins with a poignant remark from Karl Barth near the end of his life. The German theologian was dying from kidney disease: This monstrosity does not belong to God’s good creation,…

In answering this missional and practical question, after a sampling of supernatural experiences, I would propose the following two main explanations. This list is based on my own missionary experience, observations, and research. A Sampling of Experiences of Supernatural Power This section showcases empirical supernatural experiences in the non-Western world. Historical records attest that in…

A number of years ago at a conference in Hamburg, Germany, a European theologian asked me a question after my presentation on African Pentecostalism and World Christianity: “Why do your people [Africans] spend so much time praying about everything?” My answer was simple: “unlike you, when we pray ‘give us this day our daily bread,’…

Christians understand God to work in various ways. God created and sustains the universe, an ordered universe. The fact that gravity works in consistent, rather than capricious, ways is God’s good gift. As with sunshine and rain (Mt. 5:45), gravity is given through providence both to the just and unjust. When, through science, we study…

The accounts and experiences of miracles are pervasive among Christians in Africa. Millions of people claim this experience. It is incontrovertible that the miraculous is a significant part of the Christian experience in Africa. As Craig Keener says in his two-volume work Miracles, this phenomenon cannot be easily dismissed. The experience of miracles in Africa…

The topic to be discussed in the present Areopagite is quite intriguing: why do Christians outside the West experience God’s miraculous activities more than Western Christians? This question can be crucial to understanding the quintessence of Christian faith. Before trying to answer it, I would like to define the popular word “miracle” first in light…