Evangelical Christianity’s Limited View of Salvation — Samuel Cardillo I just read Carl F.H. Henry’s The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism. Carl Henry is about as Evangelical as they come (graduated from Houghton College and Western Theological Seminary; former president of Fuller seminary; author of 20 books on Evangelicalism. So it’s not surprising that his main point…

Samuel Cardillo I recently read an obscure book by Francis William Newman (younger brother of Cardinal John Henry Newman), The Phases of Faith: Passages from the History of My Creed; published in 1874. Very basically, Newman traces the various phases of his rejection of what he sees as unrealistic biblical…

I come away from a reading of Austin Fisher’s book, Young, Restless and No Longer Reformed more disturbed than ever over the idea of “Divine Reprobation,” a Calvinist doctrine defined as follows in Wikopedia: “… A person can reject the gospel to a point where God in turn rejects them…

Samuel Cardillo I just finished reading David Gushee book, Still Christian. It was captivating enough to read it in one sitting, since Gushee’s experience in the world of Evangelical Christianity mirrors my own in many ways (although he writes from the point of view of an established scholar and from…

Samuel Cardillo — Let me start with a disclaimer — since I’ve been thinking a lot lately (almost to the point of fixation) about the “big” questions of life, I can’t help but write about them. These are mostly developing ideas, not necessarily solid conclusions, although on some level, I do feel a…

We’ve started re-watching Star Trek: The Next Generation some 30 years after we watched it the first time. …

Reading David Bentley Hart’s Book, That All Shall Be Saved In some of my recent posts (samcardillo.medium.com), I discussed how I’ve been thinking about the character of God as portrayed in the Bible. As I’ve been working through the process, it continues to be both troubling but necessary at the…

A Positive View on the Benefit of Doubt Samuel Cardillo May 10, 2021 So as not to squander what can very well turn out to be a valuable learning experience, I wanted to continue to explore the phenomenon of spiritual doubt in a way that doesn’t minimize or seek quick and easy…

Is God a God of Justice or a God of Mercy? Samuel Cardillo Here’s a basic question — Why do Evangelical Christians insist so emphatically on the idea of a God of Justice over against a God of Mercy? Now the immediate response of most evangelicals (at least the ones I know) would be something like this: “God’s justice and mercy…