“Use a glass mirror to see your face; use works of art to see your soul”– George Bernard Shaw Contents of this Article Introduction History of icons Divergence in Art and Practice Iconoclasm in the 8th and 9th Century The Emergence of the Modern Era Lutherans and icons Reform Churches and Icons Anglicans and Icons The Radical Reformaton and icons Icons in the “Modern” Catholic church Icons in the “Modern” Eastern church Bearing the image of God in a Post-Modern... Read more

This video is pretty sweet…I’d love to hear what people have to say about it! http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8896410&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1 Radical Marxist, Radical Womanist, Radical Love: What Mother Teresa Taught Me about Social Justice from The Veritas Forum on Vimeo. Read more

The first time someone show me the Liturgy of the Hours my first thought was, “you must be joking.” I couldn’t understand why anyone would choose to pray in such a complicated way. My Bible had one ribbon, this thing had half a dozen and the person had put bookmarks in it to boot. At that point my response was thanks, but no thanks. In the next few years I came to realize that I could use more prayer in... Read more

My wife Joan and I have been adjusting to life here in Chicago since we moved last fall. It has been quite a transition. I have been working towards my MDiv at North Park theological seminary. We are finding our place in Chicago and the community at at North Park. I have found a home at Resurrection Covenant Church which has been a source of joy for me, and has allowed me to continue doing worship ministry from time to... Read more

Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity has been stirring up the evangelical world. In it McLaren offers some bold perspectives on how faith is to be shaped. One reader recently commented somewhat ironicly that “Some day our great-grandkids will lament the way their generation falls away from classical emergentism. O where is a MacLaren for today, they’ll cry…” The great faith traditions of Evangelicalism have developed flowers to help people understand what they belive (often at the cost of... Read more

The following is how one group of Christians in Spain over 1000 years ago dealt with pedophiles. A cleric or monk who seduces youths or young boys or is found kissing or in any other impure situations is to be publicly flogged and lose his tonsure. When his hair has been shorn, his face is to be foully besmeared with spit and he is to be bound in iron chains. For six months he will languish in prison-like confinement and... Read more

I have taken the Belif-o-matic test several times… It’s actually helps me track where my thinking has changed on certain things as My results have changed… One thing has remained though… I am always told I am 100% a Orthodox Quaker but when I look at what that means it becomes quite clear to me I am NOT an Orthodox Quaker… ALSO Seventh day adventists get high marks… but again that is NOT me. The rest of the results make... Read more

The above cartoon by Daryl Cagle illustrates how simplistic the Media’s coverage of the sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church is. The RCC has always been a target for the media… and in this case they have brought the criticism upon themselves. However I do think much of what I have encountered has been extremely biased. My wife is Catholic and she is suffering a great deal because of this. I think her experience is representative of Catholics as... Read more

For over 20 years Lamin Sanneh has been an outspoken voice about how Christianity is growing throughout his native continent of Africa. Although he was born a Muslim and received his Ph.D. in Islamic History, he is a convert to Christianity and is a professor of World Christianity at Yale Divinity School. I recently read his 2003 book Whose Religion is Christianity? (William B. Erdmans Publishing). In it Sanneh offers an invaluable perspective on how Christianity is growing and becoming... Read more

Today the Church celibates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. This day inaugurates Holy Week. The last week of Jesus’ life before his crucifixion on Friday. For centuries the church has cried out on this day “Come let us Run With Him.” Let us ask ourselves today how we can enter in the Journey toward the cross as the Aroma of Christ to the World. As you look at this icon reflect on where God is calling you this week.... Read more