Sandy Hook and the Endurance of Love

Last updated on: December 10, 2013 at 4:52 pm By Christian Piatt

This week marks a year since the nearly incomprehensible school shootings in Newtown, Conn. Gaping holes in families, lives, and the greater community remain, as the question of why such a thing happened still lingers on everyone’s lips and in minds. Looking back for answers sometimes only serves to deepen the wounds, rather than help heal them. The shooter demonstrated serious mental illness. He played violent video games, including one called “School Shooting.” He catalogued similar events as they emerged... Read more

Roger Olson’s Not a Process Theologian (But He Should Be)

Last updated on: December 10, 2013 at 1:19 am By Christian Piatt

(Offered by guest Blogger Philip Clayton, Ingraham Professor of Theology at Claremont School of Theology. Clayton earned a joint PhD in Religious Studies and Philosophy from Yale University and has held visiting appointments at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Munich. He has published over 20 books and hundreds of academic and popular articles.) *** It’s not that Roger Olson wrongly describes process theology. It’s that he has set up a battle to the death: Christian or... Read more

BLOOD DOCTRINE: My Crowd-Funded Novel Project

Last updated on: December 9, 2013 at 11:17 pm By Christian Piatt

I’m very excited to announce my first-ever crowd-funded book project. It’s for my first novel, titled BLOOD DOCTRINE. I’ve got a Kickstarter campaign going, and I’m thrilled that, after only an hour of the campaign being live, we’ve raised $500. Check out the full campaign HERE. Or just click the video below or the widget above: Take a few minutes to read about the project, why I’m funding it myself (with your help), watch the video, read a sample, and... Read more

How Financial Guru Dave Ramsey Missed the Mark

Last updated on: December 6, 2013 at 8:04 pm By Christian Piatt

I love Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace coursework. It put our family on stable financial footing years ago, and Amy and I never fight about financial matters any more. We find plenty of other things to fight about, but that’s a different post, I suppose… Ramsey has come under fire recently for a list of “Rich People Habits” he posted on his blog recently. The list actually was compiled by Tom Corley at a site called RichHabitsInstitute.com, which is intended to... Read more

Looking Where Prophets Point

Last updated on: December 6, 2013 at 5:19 pm By Christian Piatt

I will be concluding my Heretic’s Guide to the Bible weekly online study at the end of this calendar year. But while I’m still at it, I figured I’d share a sample from the study for this week. First Reading Isaiah 11:1-10 The prophet offers a vision of hope to the people of Israel, who are under siege by the Assyrian army. In his future vision, humanity and the rest of creation are all woven together into a single tapestry... Read more

CANA, The Gathering: Discerning a Progressive Identity

Last updated on: December 5, 2013 at 6:43 pm By Christian Piatt

Thanks to Philip Clayton for contributing this important piece on the first gathering of progressive leaders as part of the new CANA Initiative. Before Thanksgiving some 85 movement leaders from around the U.S. met at the National Cathedral in Washington DC to launch a nation-wide “network of networks,” which we’re calling CANA: the Collective Action Network of America. Here’s how some of them described it: ”What is CANA? A collective of Christian leaders, organizations and networks across the United States... Read more

Gareth Higgins on Peace, Politics, and Our Nation’s ‘Cinematic States’

Last updated on: December 4, 2013 at 5:35 pm By Christian Piatt

Lots of people like movies; Gareth Higgins loves movies. But the founding director of the Wild Goose Festival and long-time peace activist engages popular culture with a different eye than most of us. And he’s used that keen eye for deeper meaning to create his latest book. I asked Gareth about his new book on American film, his peace work, and what it’s like considering American culture both as an insider and as a non-native. Here’s what he had to say. You... Read more

Following Up on the Mefferd/Driscoll Interview and My Blog Post

Last updated on: December 3, 2013 at 10:05 pm By Christian Piatt

Never, in my wildest imagination, did I think that the thing I’d get the most criticism for in recent memory was for writing something in defense of Mark Driscoll. I guess this goes to show that, with God, all things really are possible! That said, there are so many strong emotions that revolve around Pastor Driscoll that, sometimes things get a little bit muddled. Though I don’t tend to write follow-up pieces or responses to feedback I get on blog... Read more

Church Sign Epic Fails, “Grandpa Ape” Edition

Last updated on: December 1, 2013 at 10:58 pm By Christian Piatt

In honor of World AIDS Day, we have a particularly gay array of signage today. Who’s ready to get their intolerance on??? Read more

Mark Driscoll’s Plagiarism Witch Hunt

Last updated on: December 3, 2013 at 10:06 pm By Christian Piatt

Read a follow-up to this piece HERE. Yes, I know it is Thanksgiving. So maybe I am feeling a little bit more generous than usual. But even I am not beyond offering some grace and compassion toward Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll, especially when I think he is being treated unfairly. My wife, Amy, likened it to the president pardoning a symbolic turkey. Funny, I don’t see the parallel. Anyway… Driscoll wrote a book called “A Call to Resurgence,” in... Read more