Chris Button

Estimated reading time: 38 minutes Donald Trump has, for better or worse, made himself someone that history will remember. But his bizarre and dangerous rise to power did not come from nowhere. Trump is both the cause and the consequence of a culture. He is an embodiment of the Trickster. A person who both forms and is informed by the Powers and Principalities of this world.  This is true not…

Guest Post by Major Michelle Wheeler (r) Estimated reading time: 6 minutes Why Does a Name Matter? Recently, I was talking to one of the older soldiers at my corps and, I’m not sure how we got onto the subject, but she said, “We should get rid of the name ‘The Salvation Army’. It’s not relevant today; nobody understands what ‘salvation’ means.” I was taken aback. I would have anticipated…

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes Sanctification is the way Christ makes us holy. It is a gift from God. But it is not a gift given for our sake. We are made holy for the sake of other people. There is a fresh reality that comes from sanctification. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we are turned from strangers into holy siblings. Sanctification Changes How We See Things The Salvation…

Estimated reading time: 15 minutes Table of contentsUnderstanding the Real Mary Magdalene in ScriptureHow Jesus Healed Mary Magdalene and What That Healing Means for Survivors TodaySalvation and Healing Are The Same ThingLinking it to Salvation Army DoctrineKnowing it in PracticeREFLECTION SPACE — Mary in the GardenWhy Mary Magdalene Is Rightly Called the Apostle of the ApostlesFrom Apostle to…

The Salvation Army is a Christian Church and Charity. It’s members are called Salvationists. But what is Salvationism? What are the distinctives of Salvationist life, faith, and culture? Is there a difference between The Salvation Army and Salvationism? We can find some answers from the work of Shaw Clifton. Foundations of Identity and How the Army Relates to the Churches Almost 20 years ago…

I asked the My Theology Corner AI chatbot whether AI can do Theology. The short answer is… No. AI cannot do Theology. In a minute I’ll show you what it wrote, but first I want to introduce you to it. My Theology Corner AI Companion Maybe you have seen a little white circle with a red question mark at the bottom right of your screen. Click it, and see what happens. I created, programmed, and…

There is a long thread that winds through the history of Christian faith and practice. It is the recognition that creation is a common treasury for humanity. That salvation is more than dealing with individual guilt. Salvation is social salvation. This thread runs for two thousand years from the start of Christianity to The Salvation Army. In this article, I am tracing that thread. This is not…

A Liberation-Theological Defense of The Salvation Army’s Non-Sacramental Witness The Salvation Army is not anti-sacramental. It could be argued that the Army is far more sacramental than churches that do sacramental worship. The Army should not start doing communion and baptism. It doesn’t need to. Salvationists need to remember the Sacrament of Liberation. This is sometimes called the…

There is a difference between Neurodivergent Theology and a theology of Neurodivergence. In this article, I’m going to explain the difference, why the church needs both types of Theology, and finish with some suggestions for creating safe churches for Neurodivergence. In the newsletter linked to this article, I will be sending out a PDF on how to help create churches that are safe and welcoming…

Why Does the Historical Jesus Matter? The claims of Christianity are not about a god that exists beyond the world. We believe that God became human. Not abstractly human, but a specific human being. Because of this claim, we need to take seriously the historical existence of Jesus. There is evidence to support the claim that Jesus was a real human being. This evidence includes non-Christian…

We need a theology of immigration. This post is a stepping stone towards exploring what that could look like. Why is a Theology of Immigration Needed? This is an age of increasing nationalism, hatred, jingoism, wars, and economic strife. We need a reminder of the way of the Gospel. Jesus teaches us to love the neighbour, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, and care for the…

Guest Author Post by Lieutenant Chelsea Brevitt Neurodiversity, Church, and Belonging In recent years, the church has begun to ask deeper questions about belonging. As congregations grow more aware of differences, conversations about inclusion have moved beyond physical accessibility to the inner life of faith itself. One of the most important of these conversations concerns neurodiversity – a…

Christianity created the sacred-secular divide. Christianity created secularisation. It is common to think that secularisation is the enemy of faith in general and Christianity in particular. People decry the end of a ‘Christian nation’ or say that we are a ‘Christian country’, and secularism is destroying our ‘shared Christian values.’ However, the reality is that Christianity created…

Good preaching can change the world. Words, when properly chosen, carefully crafted, and well delivered, can move people, inspire people and speak something new into being. Good oratory can move people to tears or to anger, inspire love or hatred, create unity or division. But preaching is more than mere oratory. Preaching is sacramental in the truest sense of the word. Preaching proclaims the…

There is a strange little verse in Genesis that has resulted in all kinds of fantasy novels, films, and unfortunate attempts at theology. That is the story of the Nephilim. Much has been made about them, but the reality is somewhat more literary and less magical. The Nephilim are mentioned in three places in the Old Testament: Genesis 6:4, Numbers 13:32-33, and Ezekiel 32:27. However, their…