February 8, 2015
On Friday, February 6, I traveled with our Vienna Study Abroad group to the Nazi concentration camp at Mauthausen, and then we visited the Benedictine monastery in Melk. Geographically, the distance is not so great (about an hour bus ride), but the emotional distance is huge if not traumatic. Mauthausen was the first concentration camp […]
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Pastoral Care, Personal | Tagged: Creation, Ecclesiastes, Evil, Mauthausen, Melk Abbey |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
April 19, 2014
The College Hills Church of Christ in Lebanon, TN, invited me to teach a class on “Yet Will I Trust Him: Trusting God in the Storms of Life” throughout January and February 2014. It was a good experience for me, though whether it was for everyone else is something I cannot judge. I am grateful […]
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Pastoral Care, Theology | Tagged: Christology, Evil, God, Lament, Providence, Resurrection, Suffering |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
March 5, 2013
Ever since the emergence of open theism on the evangelical scene in the 1990s, there have been several attempts to saddle Arminianism with the theological interests of open theism. On the one hand, Reformed theologians find it to their advantage to identify Arminianism and open theism, if for no other reason than the slippery slope […]
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Theology | Tagged: Arminianism, Arminius, Calvinism, Concurrence, Evil, Governance, Jacobus Arminius, Open Theism, Providence, Reformed Theology, Suffering |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
February 17, 2013
Joshua, my son, you would have been 30 today. I miss you, and yearn to hold you again. One day….yes, one day. Till then, rest peacefully. [I have republished this in honor of the anniversary of his birth on Feb. 17.] Joshua died at the age of sixteen. I offer this chapter out of my […]
22 Comments |
Theology | Tagged: Evil, God, Joshua Mark Hicks, Problem of Evil, Theodicy |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
May 21, 2012
May 21 is a dark day in my own history. Joshua died eleven years ago today at the age of sixteen. I offer this chapter out of my ebook on The Shack and spiritual recovery in his honor. ******** Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, […]
8 Comments |
Pastoral Care, Personal, Theology | Tagged: Evil, Faith, God, Suffering, Theodicy, Trust |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
October 12, 2011
Why a second speech? One might think that one speech from Yahweh would be enough. Perhaps it is a literary device. The two speeches may reflect the two council scenes in the Prologue–a “prologue” (1:1-5) heads the two council scenes and an “epilogue” (42:7ff) follows the two Yahweh speeches. That may be true, but it […]
4 Comments |
Biblical Texts | Tagged: Behemoth, Bible-Job, Chaos, Evil, Job, Job 40-41, Leviathan, Suffering, Yahweh Speeches |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
December 3, 2009
Now available on Amazon. Over the years I have reflected on William Young’s book The Shack in the light of my own personal journey into the world of spiritual recovery. I found much in Young’s novel that paralleled my own experience. Previously, I posted on some significant themes I found in the the book–both in […]
14 Comments |
Books, Theology | Tagged: Books, Evil, Forgiveness, God, Grief, Suffering, The Shack, William Young |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
May 23, 2009
[Note: I am attempting to keep these SBD installments under 2000 words each, but that is–of course–quite inadequate for the topics covered. Consequently, these contributions are more programmatic than they are explanatory or defenses of the positions stated. You may access the whole series at my Serial page.] Defending God is not my job. Good […]
58 Comments |
Theology | Tagged: Arminianism, Calvinism, Christology, Concurrentism, Eschatology, Evil, God, Good, Problem of Evil, Providence, Reformed Theology, Suffering, Theodicy |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
May 21, 2009
May 21, 2001 and May 21, 2008 have something in common, and I remember that today, May 21, 2016. Those are the days on which our children died–my son Joshua and John & Maggy Dobbs’ son John Robert. The memories are painful and today we will each remember, commemorate, and reflect. I pray for peace […]
23 Comments |
Personal, Theology | Tagged: Death, Evil, Lament, Problem of Evil, Protest, Providence, Suffering, Theodicy |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks