Christianity

How Do You Know It’s The Gods You’re Listening To?

September 20, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Since I began working through the Dedicant Path this second time, I've run across a number of people who are also starting their studies with ADF. They're showing up in the comment section on Bishop In The Grove, on Facebook, and I'm wondering if there's some deeper meaning behind it. A friend of mine suggested that we should distrust the Volkswagen Bug syndrome. You know -- the one where you buy a VW bug, and then all you see around you are VW bugs. They start popping up everywhere -- in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Discernment, Paganism Tagged With: Christianity, Comments, Consumerism, discernment, Divinity, GOD, Gods, Judgement, Listening, Metaphysics, Paganism, Polytheism, Reflection, The Secret, VW

Are You There Gods? It’s Me, Teo.

August 9, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Sometimes I think there's a good reason for blind faith, religious ignorance, unwavering piety. Sometimes those seem like a much easier choices than being inquisitive, being contemplative, being patient with your own uncertainty. The dialogue around the last post extended deep into the theoretical as well as the practical, even spawning an interesting offshoot post on ecological polytheism, and a resurgence of questions about an American goddess named Columbia. The explosion of ideas did a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paganism Tagged With: Christianity, Community, Dialogue, Divinity, Ecological Polytheism, Faith, GOD, Gods, Inquiry, P. Sufenas Virius Lupus, Paganism, Perception, Polytheism

When Jesus Hitches a Ride to the Druid Camp

June 25, 2012 By Teo Bishop

I've been a stay-at-home Pagan, a bookish Pagan, a CUUPS ritual-attending Pagan, and a blogging Pagan. But as of yet, I have not been a festival-going Pagan. That all changes this week. On Wednesday I shall make my way to the Prosser Ranch group campground, located just outside the town of Truckee, California, and celebrate Druidism, ADF style, at the annual Eight Winds festival. The timing of this religious retreat is rather interesting. Over the last month, swamped as I've been … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Paganism Tagged With: ADF, Christianity, Conversion, Druidism, Eight Winds, Festivals, Jesus Through Pagan Eyes, Know Thyself, Mark Townsend, Paganism, Practice, Religion

Two Pagans, an ex-Druid, and a Pastor Walk Into a Bar

June 6, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Below is a blog post created in Storify, a website which helps its users tell stories by curating social media. Not only can you read and embed Storify posts, but you can Like, Comment, or Share any of the individual messages inside a Storify post. High-tech, no? It takes dialogue to a micro-level. Give the post a read, engage in some dialogue, both inside the post and in the traditional comments, and then pay a visit to my Indiegogo Campaign, Sacred Electric Grove. [View the story … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interfaith, Storify Tagged With: Carl McColman, Christianity, Mystagogy, Mysticism, Paganism, Pastor John, Pedagogy, Pedagogy of the Soul, Sacred Electric Grove, Soulped, Storify, T Thorn Coyle, Twitter

You Say Tomato, I Say Druid.

May 11, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Ever since I took the name, Teo Bishop, and made it my own -- both in a religious sense and through the proper legal channels -- I've had cause to explain what it is that I do on this blog. My writing, as well as my deepening engagement with my own spiritual work, are both major influences on my decision to undergo this transition. Identity is interesting, and something that often goes undiscussed. What we are, how we identify, is often more experienced than it is questioned. That is, this … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Druidry, Paganism Tagged With: ADF, Bishop In The Grove, Christianity, Drew Jacob, Druidism, Druidry, Identity, Interfaith, Name, Paganism, Practice, Rogue Priest, Teo Bishop

What is the Point of Your Religion?

April 17, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Last week I asked, "Where does compassion belong among Pagans and Polytheists?" Beneath this first question there is another, more relevant question; one that has been nagging at me for several days: What is the point of your religion? I think this is a valuable inquiry, and no one has asked me this just yet. Yesterday I enrolled at Marylhurst University, the first step in a course of study that I hope will one day lead to a Masters of Divinity. I trust that during that course of work … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paganism Tagged With: Christianity, Dialogue, Identity, Interfaith, Marylhurst University, Paganism, Polytheism, Religion, Universality

Questioning Paganism… Again.

January 4, 2012 By Teo Bishop

I'm not sure why I'm a Pagan. I type those words, and I know I'm taking a risk by making this admission, but it's what's going through my head. My Paganism, as well as my Druidry, is feeling more like subject matter for this blog rather than a way of living my life. Being Pagan doesn't feel very immediate to me. It feels like a construct. It's a bit like drag; like something I'm putting on, or that I'm trying to assume. I wrote about being a convert. Perhaps this feeling is an extension of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Community, Paganism Tagged With: Christianity, Druidry, Episcopal Church, Episcopalian, Identity, Labels, Paganism, Questioning, Religion

My Pagan Yule Sounded A Lot Like Christmas

December 24, 2011 By Teo Bishop

Pagans sang Christmas carols at the Yule ritual, and it totally caught me off guard. The song sheets handed out to the attendees contained three classic, Christian favorites, re-written with Pagan, mostly Wiccan-themed lyrics. We Three Kings, Away in a Manger, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen were retitled and reworked as Moon of Silver, Away From The Harvest, and God Rest Ye Merry Paganfolk, respectively. Perhaps Pagan re-adaptations of Christian hymns are not big news to my readership, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Community, Paganism Tagged With: Carols, CCM, Christianity, Christmas, Holiday Music, Hymns, Nashville, Paganism, Songs, Songwriting

A Conscientious Objection to the War on Christmas

December 7, 2011 By Teo Bishop

While this Pagan was in the middle of the most Christian part of our country, singing "Silent Night" to rooms full of cheery Jesus-folk, a small group of vocal and well represented Christians took up arms in a supposed "war on Christmas," and now my Pagan brothers and sisters across the internet are all in a tizzy. Facebook is littered with defensive posts about Saturnalia and Winter Solstice, and as I write these words a boldly entitled essay, Christ is NOT the Reason for the Season, is the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Community, Paganism Tagged With: Christianity, Christmas, Fundamentalism, Literalism, Matthew Fox, Metaphor, Paganism, War on Christmas

A Pagan Reclaiming Forgiveness

December 1, 2011 By Teo Bishop

In the midst of this Christian extravaganza, standing beneath the red and green blinking lights, and surrounded by the sound of Jesus followers singing hymns and secular Christmas classics, I'm rediscovering the act of forgiveness. I didn't expect forgiveness to be a theme of this brief caroling experience. I thought my time singing Christmas songs might offer me more chances to make theological comparisons; a kind of anthropological experiment, if you will. I, the Pagan and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Paganism, Values Tagged With: Christianity, Christmas, Forgiveness, Love, Paganism, reclaiming