Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
My friend Thomas Jay Oord has just dropped Volume 1 of "A Systematic Theology of Love: God and Creation "— and I don't throw this word around lightly, but this book is historic. As in, no one has ever written a book with this title before. In the entire history of Christian theology. Not Barth, not Tillich, not Moltmann — nobody. And if you think about how absolutely central love is supposed to be to the whole Christian project, that fact is either hilarious or embarrassing, depending on your mood.
Tom has spent his career asking what it actually means to say "God is love" — not as a sweet bumper sticker, not as a consolation prize after the real theological heavy-lifting is done — but as the organizing center of everything. What does God look like if love isn't an afterthought? What does creation mean? What do we do with evil, with providence, with an open future?
In this volume, he tackles all of it:
- Why God is not omnipotent (and why that's actually good news)
- What "amipotent" means and why it changes everything
- How Open and Relational Theology gives us the best framework for a God who genuinely responds to us
- A real, working definition of love that isn't just vibes
- Creation, providence, and yes — a serious crack at the problem of evil
This isn't theology-lite. Tom goes there — process thought, Wesleyan holiness traditions, African Ubuntu philosophy, the whole thing. But he writes like someone who actually wants you to understand, which is a gift more theologians should consider giving.
I've been wanting to have this conversation ever since Tom told me he was working on it. Bring snacks and a drink. Get ready to nerd out and ask your questions in the chat. Let's think together about what it means that, at the bottom of all things, there is Love.
My friend Thomas Jay Oord has just dropped Volume 1 of "A Systematic Theology of Love: God and Creation "— and I don't throw this word around lightly, but this book is historic. As in, no one has ever written a book with this title before. In the entire history of Christian theology. Not Barth, not Tillich, not Moltmann — nobody. And if you think about how absolutely central love is supposed to be to the whole Christian project, that fact is either hilarious or embarrassing, depending on your mood.
Tom has spent his career asking what it actually means to say "God is love" — not as a sweet bumper sticker, not as a consolation prize after the real theological heavy-lifting is done — but as the organizing center of everything. What does God look like if love isn't an afterthought? What does creation mean? What do we do with evil, with providence, with an open future?
In this volume, he tackles all of it:
- Why God is not omnipotent (and why that's actually good news)
- What "amipotent" means and why it changes everything
- How Open and Relational Theology gives us the best framework for a God who genuinely responds to us
- A real, working definition of love that isn't just vibes
- Creation, providence, and yes — a serious crack at the problem of evil
This isn't theology-lite. Tom goes there — process thought, Wesleyan holiness traditions, African Ubuntu philosophy, the whole thing. But he writes like someone who actually wants you to understand, which is a gift more theologians should consider giving.
I've been wanting to have this conversation ever since Tom told me he was working on it. Bring snacks and a drink. Get ready to nerd out and ask your questions in the chat. Let's think together about what it means that, at the bottom of all things, there is Love.
