The other day, Auggie, my six-year old Springer Spaniel, scored a major victory. After chasing squirrels his entire life, to no avail (Coyote-Road Runner style) he finally caught one–in our backyard. The squirrel didn’t have a limp or anything. When Auggie nabbed him, he instinctively and abruptly ended the poor little guy’s life. It was as if he’d been envisioning this moment for years. I won’t go into details, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience for us onlookers. Not every... Read more
OK, so this is nothing especially new, but I liked the way that Ross Douthat, in his book Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, tied the decline in American church attendance not to the loss of religion, but to its redirection. Jesus can’t save me the way I want to be saved, but maybe Barack Obama or Mitt Romney can. Either way, I must believe not according to my convictions, but according to the platform my savior represents. To... Read more
At the end of the month I’ll be speaking at the Mockingbird Ministries fall conference at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, September 28-29. The theme is High, Low & In Between: Hope Amidst the Ruins, and if you happen to be in the area, consider spending the weekend with us. Through on-line articles, publications, conferences, and other resources Mockingbird connects the gospel to the felt realities of everyday cultural life. Their team of writers produce insightful, theologically informed, and sensitive exegesis... Read more
In 1857 an exhausted and depressed Herman Melville travelled to Jerusalem in an effort to recover his Christian faith. He returned bitterly disappointed with what he apparently didn’t find. Unfortunately, Melville’s life-long struggle with faith is not the exception in the history of modern art and literature. This history is characterized by loss, brokenness, and failure, and faith is often one of the consequences. Edvard Munch said that “art comes from joy and pain,” and then he added, “but... Read more
Here’s a little reflection, from Kierkegaard, for those of you interested in the issue of biblical inerrancy: Like a good, theologically orthodox Lutheran, Kierkegaard accepted the Bible’s authority as the divinely inspired “Word of God.” But he refused to ground the Bible’s authority, the legitimacy of Christian faith, and the epistemological truth of Christianity, in the Bible’s historical veracity, textual perfection, scientific truth, etc.. Contrary to modernist understandings of the Bible, for Kierkegaard the Bible cannot be a secure epistemic... Read more
Asked to review James MacDonald’s Vertical Church by the fine people who bring you Patheos, it seemed only appropriate to do that here (there is a discussion of the book going on at The Patheos Book Club blog). As the title implies, Vertical Church is a plea for the people of God (and particularly those who lead them) to return to the first commandment: Love the Lord. (Horizontal Church would be the church that pays too much attention to loving their neighbors.) As... Read more
Grace is a nice idea until it happens to you. Theologian George Hunsinger writes, Grace does not mean continuity but radical discontinuity, not reform but revolution, not violence but nonviolence, not the perfecting of virtues but the forgiveness of sins, not improvement but resurrection from the dead. He continues, grace is not a matter of repairing this or that human capacity, but of contradicting fallen human nature as a whole, with all its capacities or incapacities, so that it actually transcends... Read more
I’m seeing a number of comparisons of the RNC and the DNC regarding the number of “God” references, and references to “Scripture” in speeches. Then there was that kurfuffle at the DNC about taking “God” out of the party platform, then re-inserting the language after it was put to the convention floor. I think God must have gone through a bit of an identity crisis there. At the very least, I’m sure he felt a bit self-conscious. (Do they like... Read more
Emergent theologian Tony Jones is starting a new blog series called Questions that Haunt Christianity. He’s inviting readers to submit their vexing questions about the Christian faith on Tuesday of each week, and then he’ll answer them on Friday. Jones says, “I’m not afraid of doubt. I, myself, am a doubter. But I consider a large part of my vocation as a Christian theologian to proffer intellectually honest answers to the big questions of faith.” I think we need more of... Read more
A wise mentor once told me that to truly understand another’s beliefs is to be tempted by them. This requires a certain love for the truth that extends beyond a certainty that you’ve already found it. Such a genuine love of truth, and the ruthless pursuit of it, is ultimately a search for God. Most every faith tradition teaches this, though few of us are brave enough to trust it. Instead, we embed ourselves deep within our tribes, or so... Read more
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