Simplify! Living More Abundantly with Less Stuff in Less Space

July 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Enough-cover-194x300

(Will Davis, Jr., Enough: Finding More by Living with Less, 2012, 232 pages.) This book review is a sponsored post that is part of the Patheos Book Club. When I was first asked to review this book, my first thought was, "Great. I've already read it!" However, I was mistakenly thinking of another good book titled "Enough" by an author whose first name is also "Will": Enough: Contentment in an Age of Excess by Will Samson (from back in 2009). Reflecting on this duplicate title reminded me … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ethics, Gandhi, Occupy Leave a Comment

#OccupyChurch: Jesus Threw out the Moneylenders for a Reason

October 24, 2011 By

Andy Lester was one of the most important professors I had in seminary. I took two classes from him: Introduction to Pastoral Care and Pastoral Care Confronts Anger and Conflict. As part of the latter class, we helped edit his book A Pastoral Theology of Anger, which cuts against the grain of the tradition that anger is always a sin. Perhaps the most important reading assignment in that class was an essay by Beverly Wildung Harrison titled, “The Power of Anger in the Work of Love.” She … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Empire-Critical, Ethics, Nonviolent Activism, Occupy, Sermons

Jesus’ Parable of the Job Creator, the Day Laborers, and #OccupyWallSt

October 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Jesus’ “Parable of the Generous Landowner and the Laborers in the Vineyard” could be profitably retold today as “The Parable of the Job Creator and the Day Laborers.” This story is one of those frequent passages of scripture that many would likely decry as “Socialism!” if these passage were not from the Bible. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Nonviolent Activism, Occupy, Parables, Politics, Sermons Leave a Comment

Brian McLaren, "Two Kinds of Religion," and #OccupyWallSt

October 14, 2011 By

I was reminded today of a quote from author and public theologian Brian McLaren that has fresh resonance in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street protests: There are two kinds of Christianity, along with two kinds of Islam, Judaism, and every other religion and non-religion too: one of social control and one of social transformation; one to hold people down, one to lift them up; one an opiate to pacify people into compliance, the other a stimulant to empower people to imagine a better world, a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Nonviolent Activism, Occupy, Pluralism

Jesus, #OccupyWallSt, and the Rich Young Ruler

October 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

What would Jesus say to a Wall Street financier who declared his desire to follow Jesus? We see in Matthew 19 (and parallels) that Jesus said to the seemingly-ernest Rich Young Ruler that, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor...then come, follow me.” But, “When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” It is often said that Christians should approach the world with the Bible in one hand and the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Occupy Leave a Comment