Cosmetic Diversity vs. Deep Pluralism

January 23, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

The topic of this discussion was inspired by a podcast I was listening to with Dr. Adam Clark of Xavier University in Cincinatti Ohio (https://adamlclark.com/). In a conversation with Josh Patterson of the (RE)Thinking Faith Podcast, Dr. Clark mentioned the comparison of cosmetic diversity vs. Deep pluralism. Cultural Diversity and Peace and Justice At the heart of my education in undergraduate and in both of my graduate programs was some sort of emphasis on cultural diversity. In college,... Read more

A Contemplative Look at Micah 6:8

January 19, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

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Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God I am a contemplative at heart. As pastor, I never learned bible passages for the sake of learning bible passages. I was never a sword drill champion. For me, memorizing bible verses was a useless endeavor if one leans into the notion of the Bible being the “living words”. As a... Read more

Body Dysmorphia – The Spiritual Practice of You

January 13, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

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In 2017, I turned 40 years old. At this point, I had been running ultramarathons for 7 years, averaging around three 50k’s a year, with a couple of years where I had 5 ultras under my belt. I have never been competitive, but in 2014, a strange thing happened, I ran my first sub-8-hour 50k, followed by a sub 7 in 2016 and then consistent sub 7:30’s in 2017-2020. Forty was a new age bracket putting me in the “Master’s”... Read more

A Thoughtful Response to the 2024 Election

January 10, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

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Religion and Politics In the World Religions class I teach, I have the students look at the dynamics and relationship between religion and politics at the end of the semester. The last few classes, I have had the students address the question, does religion cause violence? This semester however, I asked a different question, “what role does religion play in politics?” Consider this thought from Christopher Calloway (Calloway): While the topic of establishment (Under the notion of separation of church... Read more

Taking the Emotion out of Fear

January 9, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

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Is fear an emotion or a perception? What do we do about the notion of fear? In the next two posts, I am going to look at how fear is driving the problem of social conflict and the ongoing collapse of church institutions in America. In this post, I want to address three areas regarding the experience of fear: the psychology of fear, and finally mindful practices to deal with fear. Psychology of Fear Fear is closely related to anxiety,... Read more

The Spiritual Practice of You- Mindful Movement

January 6, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

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Just Well, we are a week into the first year! If you made a commitment to moving more and getting more exercise this year, how did you do this week? I was able to get up at 0530 most mornings and was able to get most of my training in. Things Fall Apart Twenty years ago, my life began falling apart. After finishing a Master’s degree for church work, my Conference told me that they were not going to... Read more

Spiritual Practice of You – Cultivating Happiness

January 1, 2024 By Rob Giannamore

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my coworker’s boy Chris. As a three year old, they are generally just bundles of energy and enthusiasm. We can learn a lot from three year olds. 2024 New Year, New You! Well, not really. As a Therapist and a Personal Trainer, I love and hate this time of the year. A lot of motivational people will talk up happiness as if it were an end goal to a fulfilling life. While I cannot disagree, I cannot completely agree... Read more

Considering Mystery, A Spiritual Practice

December 29, 2023 By Rob Giannamore

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Why do we believe what we believe? Why is there a higher power? For that matter, why is the sky blue? As I have been playing around with this question this week, a couple of notions came to mind: immanence, mysticism, and mystery. Trying to figure out how these all go together has been a contemplative journey this week. Spirituality and religion are a mystery as over the thousands of years these concepts have wrestled with their... Read more

Spiritual Practice of You: Seasonal Affective Disorder

December 27, 2023 By Rob Giannamore

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Many biblical scholars like to speculate on the themes of depression in the bible. When I was in seminary, we would often point to David, who if you read the Psalms which are attributed to him and some of the other accounts seems clinically depressed. Context matters though and we must consider the geopolitical and sociocultural events happening at the time of David to really appreciate his position. I could spend the rest of this discussion exegeting all the instances... Read more

The Spiritual Practice of Imagination

December 22, 2023 By Rob Giannamore

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As we close out 2023, I look back on the year. One of the hardest pills for me to swallow this year was the complete realization that my longer trail race days are over. While I still believe that I can do 50k and beyond, having COVID seemed to do something to my ability to recover from these longer events that is rather unpleasant. It has been almost 4 years since my last 50k. What an Adventure! This year... Read more