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Influencer des Jahres 2025: Jesus Christus

Das prognostiziert jedenfalls eine der am wenigsten christlichen Institutionen des Landes: Das schwedische Fernsehen SVT. /// At least that's the prediction of one of the country's least Christian institutions: Swedish television SVT.

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Homo Deus without vibrancy

Hartmut Rosa's "Resonance" and Harari's "Homo Deus" help me to have a better understanding of the turn of the year.

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The man who foresaw (almost) everything

Instead of the usual Christmas kitsch with aspic and gravy, and in keeping with the literary journey I'm on, I'd rather give you a portrait of the author, sociologist, historian, philosopher and theologian who, in my opinion, has described better than anyone else what the incarnation of heaven actually means in the West of the 20th century.

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Wüstenstimme 🕯️🕯️🕯️Desert voice

Der heutige dritte Advent steht hierzulande im Zeichen des Vorläufers Jesu, Johannes des Täufers. 🕯️🕯️🕯️Here in this country, the third Sunday of Advent is celebrated under the motto of Jesus' forerunner, John the Baptist.

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The God Complex

The first stages of this journey to the centre of thought may have been a little bumpy. But now it gets turbulent. Horst-Eberhard Richter's "The God Complex" really stirs up the subconscious.

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Thinking in Time: History for Decision Makers

I wasn't sure whether to put this book on my public reading list about my literary walk. But I know that big decisions are only as good as their preparation, and the more they influence the future, the deeper and more firmly they must be rooted in history. That's why the book 'Thinking in Time' should be part of the journey. 

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Clash of Civilisations

Moving abroad, the activism of starting new churches and working with international communities has taught me a lot. More than I ever imagined. But it has also pushed me to my limits, again and again. One of these limits I reached particularly often: that of my thinking. It took time to realise this, and then it led to a literary walk along historically stony paths. On the next stage I...

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Not in God’s Name

The last blog entry was about the expedition I have embarked on to uncover subconscious thought patterns. It takes me away from social media and into the world of good books. This entry is from the first part of this journey.

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A Spark of Hope

Somehow I feel the need to remind ourselves again how insignificant and irrelevant theology is in the ruts of today’s everyday life. So uninteresting that most don’t even get as far as the second sentence here, because you switch off right away with “theology”. On the other hand, anyone who has made it to this […]

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ὁλόκαυστος

Painting by Paul Gauguin: The Devil Speaks (1894). If non-Germans ask me outside Germany about Hitler and the extermination of the Jews, I can take it as a personal honor: They obviously feel safe enough to discuss this dark chapter of German history with me (others prefer to avoid the topic in the presence of […]

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How does Climate Change Affect the Human Soul?

Over the past year it has become increasingly challenging for me to observe how evangelicals are way too busy with their own little church activities while being perfectly equipped to help the world tackling the climate crisis. This lecture, taught at Communitas virtual Europe conference in 2021, is an attempt of connecting classical free church […]

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What the Hell?!

Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci: Caricature of a man (1495) So there it is, the first part of the new, big IPCC report on the state of the climate. Published a few days ago, the remaining parts of the report will follow in the next few months. With it comes a new, interactive world atlas […]

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What if this was a war?

Actually, I shouldn’t be writing blog posts at all right now. I rather should be sitting in our garden, enjoying a glass of juice, or at least bringing the garden back into shape, which we have let overgrown for far too many years. But gardening is torture in this scorching heat, the dripping sweat is […]

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Matters of Power

Before my annual missiology lectures begin next week, I don’t just have to update my lessons and presentations this week. I also need to sort my thoughts on what happened last week, and my blog is a great place to do so. On Thursdays, when I usually work for ALT* a maximum of four people […]

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Ekklesia – Heavenly Politics In this World yet Not Of this World

It was the German lawyer, politician and revolutionary Friedrich Franz Karl Hecker who came up with a quote that can be pretty disturbing. He emigrated to the USA – twice. He fought diligently for the improvement of the political systems of Prussia but he also ran into some frustration. It was after his second journey […]

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Thinklings

I’m very proud to announce that we’re having a second round of Thinklings this year, starting today. This is our guiding topic: How do we give order, meaning, and resilience to Christ-communities under what are likely to be increasingly stressful circumstances? How shall the church maintain the integrity of our witness to the living God […]

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This is a Sinful Blog Post

Finally! We managed to build sinless societies, surprisingly without the need of any redeemer. Sin is gone! Even churches don’t like to talk about it anymore. Today, however, I was asked about “the definition of sin” and I thought: Hm…, there is no quick answer to it. Maybe it’s time for a sinful blog post. […]

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The Futures

Recently I’ve started to immerse myself a little more academically into the subject of future studies. Some might consider this subject as odd as laying Tarot cards, reckoning the whole future thing a pseudo science. And yet we all have to admit that man’s desire for a better understanding of the future is as old […]

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Eine Theologie des Mundschutzes

(de/en [page 2]) Jahrelang trieb ich mich in diversen OP-Sälen herum, wohnte Gefälligkeiten wie Schädelöffnungen oder Amputationen bei. Obwohl ich wusste, wie die Luft eines OPs verteilt und gefiltert werden muss, um den Saal so sicher und keimfrei wie möglich zu halten, trugen alle im OP ein Ding im Gesicht, das uns alle gleichmachte: Einen […]

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Lessons for a World in Agony

(en) Every year or so we do a theology retreat named “Thinklings” where about 10 theologians and church planters present their reflections on an issue, an opportunity, or a hot potato they have run into. This year’s Thinklings was held virtually for obvious reasons, but I need to tell you, we had a blast. Unfortunately […]

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Pandemic Prayer

(en) For several weeks our European Communitas* community have held Monday afternoon meetings for the purpose of gaining a better understanding of the unusual times we’re finding ourselves in. One thing we identified is the weak theology of suffering we find in many contemporary free churches. God, the Bible, and Life almost always needs to […]

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Let’s get serious! (en)

From a missiological point of view the time has come for the Wesern church to be a much more convincing witness. In the West, Christians are losing increasingly more ground. We simply could deny that fact, we also could mourn it, or we can see it as an opportunity. Personally I’m regarding it as an […]

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Faith and Doubt

What is Freedom? -Featuring Bruxy Cavey, Canada (se/en)

Tro & Tvivel (Faith & Doubt) podcast 5 This episode is a liverecording from the Faith & Doubt Event in August 2018. The Canadian theologian and Pastor Bruxy Cavey shares thoughts and answers to questions about what freedom is, among other subjects. Introduction in Swedish.

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Treacherous friends (3): Plato (en/de)

GERMAN TRANSLATION HERE / ZUR DEUTSCHEN ÜBERSETZUNG The student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle is one of the greatest Greek philosophers. But allowing him to become a main theologian was a huge mistake. It’s the cause of many problems and soon it could even end in death. My first approaches to girls happened during […]

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Treacherous Friends (2): Status Quo (en/de)

GERMAN TRANSLATION HERE / ZUR DEUTSCHEN ÜBERSETZUNG No, I’m not talking about the band. I’m talking about our present state of development, our way of life, our condition, shape. A dirty cunning lad, this Status Quo. He tells us the tale of eternal growth, new opportunities, valuable increases in sales or breasts. He promises updates […]

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Treacherous Friends (1): Liberalism (en/de)

GERMAN TRANSLATION HERE / ZUR DEUTSCHEN ÜBERSETZUNG Christians are called to be “in this world” yet “not of this world”. That is what Jesus prayed the fateful night before his execution. And yet, Christians have been tempted by some mysterious forces to be more “of this world,” but not really “in this world.” One of […]

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Love the Church of the Future (en)

In March 2019 the first European Future Church Symposium ever took place in Amsterdam. The third and last plenary talk tackles some implications of talk one and two: What if the church would really move to reflect the God of the Future? (Speaker: Marcus Fritsch, Gothenburg)

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Love the God of the Future! (en)

In March 2019 the first European Future Church Symposium ever took place in Amsterdam. The second out of three plenary talks presents God as the one who constantly challenges us to look into the future by using our imagination – as opposed to constantly looking into the past what many churches usually do. (Speaker: Marcus […]

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Love the Future! (en)

In March 2019 the first European Future Church Symposium ever took place in Amsterdam. The first out of three plenary talks gives an overview of current changes in the world and what this means for the future of the church. (Speaker: Marcus Fritsch, Gothenburg)

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One Story to Rule Them All

Jon Ritner, Hollywood: Three summers ago I moved from Brussels to Hollywood, CA where i am part of a community that gets to tell the story of Jesus to the city that tells stories to the world. Ironically in the city of great stories, there is seemingly less interest than ever in the Jesus Story. […]

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Give Europe a Soul!

The socalled “Gospel” involves much more than only individual salvation. It can even change entire continents for the better. Let’s be bold again and spice up the contemporary political lameness with some heavenly hope in truly threatening times.

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