The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

  • About
    • About FaithX
      • Annual Report (2019)
    • The FaithX Team
    • Our Clients
    • Partner Organizations
  • Services
    • Testimonials
    • Missional Solutions for Congregations
    • Missional Solutions for Judicatories
    • Neighborhood Missional Assessment
    • Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report
    • Covid Impact Planning Report
  • Resources
    • Congregational Vitality Assessment Tool (CVA)
      • CVA – FAQs
    • Other Assessment Tools
    • MapDash for Faith Communities
    • Books
      • Paradoxy
      • Excommunicating the Faithful
    • Research
      • General Research
      • “Religion Singularity”
      • SHERM Journal
    • Sermons
    • Videos
  • Blog
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19 Blog Series
    • FaithXperimental Spotlight
  • Events
    • Webinars
    • Client Continuing Ed
    • Event Recordings
  • Donate

Mar 08 2021

Book Review – Trump and Political Theology: Unmaking Truth and Democracy

Trump and Political Theology

Title: Trump and Political Theology
Author: Jack David Eller, PhD
Publisher: GCRR Press (2020)
Reviewer: Ken Howard


This post is part of our occasional series, FaithX Book Reviews.

If you know a book you’d like us to review on our blog (or if you’d like to review one for us), please let us know by contacting Ken Howard at ken@faithx.net


Trump and Political Theology is unique, in that it reflects on the presidency of Donald Trump not simply from the standpoint of politics, but rather through the lens of theology (political theology, to be exact). Political theology has been around since the beginnings of institutional Christianity, but in the last century has focused on determining the theological legitimacy of political powers and institutions. Dr. Eller uses this theopolitical lens to understand the relationship of this particular president to norms, traditions, and institutions. 

With a foreword from FaithX’s very own Research Directory, Dr. Slade, the book’s main author, Dr. Jack David Eller, is a professor emeritus of anthropology, as well as the author of a number of books, including Cultural Anthropology: Global Forces, Local Lives, Inventing American Tradition, and Introducing Anthropology of Religion: Culture to the Ultimate.  He is also a film editor for the Anthropology Review Database. 

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: anthropology, Book Review, Darren Slade, democracy, Jack David Eller, political theology, politics, religion, Trump and Political Theology, truth

Oct 24 2019

When “Perfection” is the Opposite of “Perfect”

This post on the true meaning of perfection is written
by Ken Howard

A while back I was challenged on my assertions that the goal of Christian community was not to achieve and maintain perfection, and that neither Jesus Christ nor the Apostle Paul ever intended to start a religion called “Christianity.”

So I’d like to comment briefly here on the concepts of “perfection” and “religion.”

If we in the present day are not careful in our use of terms, we run the risk of overlaying the original meanings of the words of Scripture with our own connotations.

For example, we tend to think of perfection in the absolute sense, as in entirely without error, wholly without defect, as something or someone having achieved a state of being which is complete in-and-of itself.  When we hear Jesus say, “You are to be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect,” we view it as reaching a state of perfection exactly like God’s state of perfection. However, the writers of the New Testament used the term in a more nuanced way. Our sense of perfect is close to the Greek “aortist” tense, which connotes an act that is complete and permanent. But in all the places where we are being asked to be “perfect,” the tense is not aortist, as in completed once-and-for-all, but “imperfect,” as in an ongoing process. Paul implies as much when he says “not that I have already become perfect” (Phil. 3:12) and when he says that God “will perfect” a good work in us “until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).

[Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: FaithX Blog, Posts by Ken Howard · Tagged: aortist, Christianity, Greek, latin, Perfection, religio, religion, Roman Empire, scripture, supersticio, telios, translation

Dec 21 2017

The Religion Singularity Crisis: Avoid the Danger – Discover the Opportunity

chinese-crisis-danger-oppor-2

By Ken Howard

It has been said that the Chinese word for “crisis” is formed from two ideograms: one which signifies danger, the other opportunity.

Last summer, we published a research paper entitled, “The Religion SIngularity: The Demographic Crisis Destabilizing and Transforming Institutional Christianity” in the Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society. The article describes an emerging phenomenon, which we have called the Religion Singularity: the runaway growth-by-fragmentation in the numbers of denominations and worship centers at a rate exceeding the growth in the total population of Christians worldwide.

The danger in this crisis is existential. If the long-standing current trend does not change – and it seems unlikely we can fight it – then it will drive down the size of those institutions to unsustainable levels by the end of this century. We may see the end of denominations and worshipping communities as we have known them.

But how do we find the opportunity in this crisis? The answer lies in point of view and preparation. Once we accept that denominations and worship centers will die in their current form, then we can prepare to ride out the change, so that we might survive and thrive in the midst of the current uncertainty into whatever form the resurrected body of Christ might take on the other side. Faith-based communities and organizations will need to find a way to achieve sustainability in the truest sense of the term: choosing to adapt to their changing environment while remaining true to their vision and mission.  [Read more…]

Written by Ken Howard · Categorized: Coaching and Consulting, FaithX Blog, FaithX News, FaithX Services, Future of Faith, Ministry Development and Redevelopment, Posts by Ken Howard, Research · Tagged: church, faith, Faith-based, faith-based organization, ideogram, religion, Religion Singularity, Research and development, singularity, Startup company, sustainability, vision-guided experimentation

FaithX is Datastory Affiliate

Copyright © 2021 · Altitude Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in