I’m very happy to feature a guest post by philosopher and theologian Dr. Jay McDaniel.  Jay is a Professor of Religion at Hendrix College, and serves as the Director of the Steel Center for the Study of Religion and Philosophy.  He specializes in Buddhism, process philosophy/theology, and ecological theology.  His books include Living from the Center: Spirituality in the Age of Consumerism, and Gandhi’s Hope: Learning From World Religions as a Way to Peace.  Jay is also the editor of... Read more

In his speech at the Arab Islamic American Summit, Donald Trump exhorted the leaders of Muslim nations that, “A better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists and extremists. Drive. Them. Out. Drive them out of your places of worship. Drive them out of your communities. Drive them out of your holy land, and drive them out of this earth.”   This idea that you can simply “drive them out” to get rid of extremists and... Read more

I’ve been reflecting a bit today on my seminary experience, which culminated in an M.A. in Religion. My five-year graduate school journey began at George Fox Evangelical Seminary (now Portland Seminary) and ended at the Earlham School of Religion. It was a challenging but wonderful experience.   I went into seminary with the narrowly focused goal of going deep into the study of Quakerism. But, as often happens in an educational setting, one gets exposed to new ideas, and all... Read more

Although I am a Christian Quaker (who also practices Buddhism), I occasionally attend a nearby Unitarian Universalist (UU) church on Sunday mornings.  There is a long history of appreciation and support between Quakers and UU’s.  It is not unusual, for instance, to discover that a small Quaker meeting who can’t afford their own building meets instead in space provided at a UU church.  Last Sunday at my local UU church a Quaker taught an afternoon class on peace activism.  [It... Read more

One night a week my wife and I meet up with a group of Buddhists. Many have Christian backgrounds. We meditate together, then have a brief teaching (called a “dharma talk”) and then a discussion. Last night the discussion was about kindness–about being kind simply for the sake of being kind. My wife brought up 1 Corinthians 13 (“Love is patient, love is kind…”) and the idea that patience creates room for kindness. This insight was met with appreciation by... Read more

One of the things I love about studying (not just reading, but studying) the Bible is that it continuously surprises and challenges me. This is especially true when I’m able to lay aside some of my presuppositions—my doctrinal filters and lenses that have been handed down to me. I want to try to understand biblical texts by exploring the historical/cultural/social context from which they came, to try to understand what the texts meant to the people who wrote them and... Read more

One of the most profound and yet simple statements I ever heard came from a Catholic priest. It was just six words, and when I share them, if you are a Christian, you probably won’t think it’s any great or rare insight.  But at the time it really hit me and has stuck with me ever since. What he said was, “Jesus is the revelation of God.” Maybe another way to say that is “If you want to know what... Read more