Professor D. Stephen Long, theologian at Marguette University, published Speaking of God: Theology, Language, and Truth [Eerdmans, 2009] in which, among many other controversial explorations, made a few critical comments about my A Grammar of Christian Faith. In 2010 we had a lively e-mail exchange, which is included herein. It should prove interesting to persons concerned with the huge disagreements among Christians in the last two hundred years concerning appropriate and truthful God-talk, including issues concerning Trinitarian and Christological conceptualities and the role of metaphysical considerations, as well as some reminiscing about the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the so-called ‘Yale School’ of Post-Liberal Theology. Extended discussions of classical theism, process theism, and other movements and persons in contemporary theology are explored and debated.

Professor Long, an ordained Methodist minister, previously taught systematic theology at Garrett-Evangelical Seminary. He has published several other important books in theology and ethics: Divine Economy: Theology and the Market [Routledge Press, 2000]; The Goodness of God: Theology, Church and the Social Order [Brazos Press, 2001]; John Wesley’s Moral Theology: The Quest for God and Goodness [Kingswood Press, 2005]; Theology and Culture [Cascade Books, 2008].

A series of notes and comments intending to unravel some confusions that haunt the discourses and practices of not only Christians about justice, especially God's justice, but the various political social orders in which they have lived and now live.

[A slightly revised version of a paper presented at a Conference on the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Theology of John Howard Yoder at Englewood Christian Church, Indianapolis, IN on March 13-14, 2009. Published with endnotes as Chapter Five in Radical Ecumenicity: Pursuing Unity and Continuity after John Howard Yoder, ed. John C. Nugent, (Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 2010), pp. 107-127.]

The purpose of these Notes is to provide some orienting remarks for that person who might be reading or thinking about reading the Grammar for the first time or near the first time. They will be posted over time and involve notes about each chapter in the Grammar.

[This essay was written as a chapter on Salvation in a collection of theological essays by Disciples of Christ theologians for an introductory text in theology to be published in the summer of 2007 by Chalice Press. The essay was finished in November of 2006.  Used here by permission. Posted here 3/27/07.] Now published, without ‘further readings’ and ‘study questions’, in Chalice Introduction to Disciples Theology, ed. Peter Goodwin Heltzel, (St.Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2008), pp. 190-202.

[This essay was written for a special issue of Leaven: A Journal of Christian Ministry on the topic of ecclesiology as part of a conversation among persons in the Stone-Campbell Movement. It was written in February 2006 and was published in Leaven, Vol. 15, No. 1 (First Quarter 2007), pp. 6-11. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to endnotes found at the end of the essay. Posted here 4/29/07.]

An address given in August 2007 at a Stone-Campbell Conference on Spiritual Formation at Speedway Church of Christ, Speedway, Indiana, the Reverend Kent Ellett pastor. See bibliography on this site for other places the essay has been published.

[This short essay was written for a workshop of this title given at The Leadership Training School of the Oklahoma Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma City on January 31, 2004. It was meant to stimulate discussion within my own tradition, but I believe it has some usefulness even beyond that. Responses are welcome. Posted here 2/1/04. Published in Encounter, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Summer 2004). pp. 215-221.]

[This essay is written for a seminar on this topic at Community Christian Church in Richardson, Texas on February 22, 2004. Posted here on 1/24/04. Numbered endnotes in separate document at end of this post.]

[Published in a festschrift issue of Encounter (Vol. 63, Nos. 1-2, 2002, pp. 129-136) in honor of Professor Clark Williamson upon his retirement from Christian Theological Seminary. Used by permission of Encounter. Posted here 8/26/03.]

[A slightly revised version of an article in DisciplesWorld, vol. 3, issue 9 (November 2004), pp. 13-15. Posted here 11/2/04. For an extended discussion of “dual destiny” see Chapter 13 on “Christian Hope and Eschatology” in my A Grammar of Christian Faith: Systematic Explorations in Christian Life and Doctrine, especially pp. 709-724.]

[This is an address made to the faculty and students at Christian Theological Seminary in the Spring of 1999. Published in Encounter, vol. 61, no. 4 (Autumn 2000), pp. 439-48. Used with permission. Slightly edited. Posted here 7/21/04.]

[The following essay is a collection of eight short articles published in the Indiana Christian, Vol. 79, Nos. 3-6 (1997); Vol. 80, Nos. 1-2 (1998)]

[This essay was written in 1997 and published in Encounter, vol. 59, nos. 1-2 (Winter/Spring, 1998), pp. 274-291. This version is edited. Published with permission. These themes are more fully developed in my Grammar, Chapter 4: The Triune God. Numbers in brackets refer to endnotes found at the end of the essay. Posted here 7/21/04.]

[The first version of this essay was presented to the faculty of Christian Theological Seminary in the spring of 1989. A revision was published in Encounter, vol, 56, no. 4 (Winter, 1995), pp. 1-18. The themes of the essay achieve further expression in my Grammar, see esp. pp. 503-509, 709-48. Version here is edited. Posted here 7/20/04.]

[Published in The Church and the Jewish People: A Study Guide for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), ed. by Clark M. Williamson (St. Louis: Christian Board of Publication, 1994), pp. 51-58. Slightly edited herein. Posted here 7/30/04]

[This essay was written for the Commission on Theology of the Council of Christian Unity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1993 and published in Mid-Stream, Vol. 33, No. 4 (October 1994) pp. 377-389. While my definition of the church, in its earliest forms, goes back to my teaching in the early 70’s, this essay expresses much of the final version of ecclesiology represented in my Grammar, chapter 11. Version here is edited.]

[This is an address given on the occasion of my installation as Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Theology of Christian Theological Seminary in the fall of 1988. Published in Encounter, vol. 50, no. 2 (Spring, 1989), pp. 177-83. Used by permission. Edited. Posted 7/22/04.]

[This essay was prepared for the Commission on Theology of the Council on Christian Unity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) meeting in May 1979. It appeared in Mid-Stream, (July, 1980), Vol. XIX, No. 3, pp. 309-21. This version is slightly edited.]

[An address given to a plenary session of the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in October 1977. At the time I was Dean of the Phillips Graduate Seminary. I think the address is even more pertinent to the situation of the church today. Posted here 7/19/04.]

[This essay was written in 1976 and published in The Journal of Religion, vol. 57, no. 3, (July 1977), pp. 232-251. It reflects my longstanding concern with the grammar of the concept of revelation in Christian discourse. The influence, or at least my appropriation of what I understood, of Wittgenstein is also evident. Slightly edited herein. Numbers in brackets refer to endnotes. Posted here 8/9/04.]