One of the most common questions in religion, philosophy and psychology is, “Are people born good or evil?” This used to be a really interesting question to me. I’m not really sure why. Back in my cool guy TULIP days, I needed people to be super evil so that my Big God could be more awesomer. When I was looking into new agey type stuff, I wanted people to be good. But, what if neither of these answers actually work? What if it’s actually a bad... Read more
We had the privilege on Doug Pagitt Radio of interviewing Amy Andrews and Jessica Griffith about their book Love and Salt – A Spiritual Friendship Shared in Letters. The audio is here. Video is here. Read more
Learning to walk again… I have found this word picture to be a very helpful metaphor that creates in me an openness, a desire and a longing to embrace my personal spiritual recovery. This metaphor is rooted in the Christ story, particularly in the second Adam image found in Romans 5. By “second Adam”, I am referring to the Genesis narrative that tells the story of the original intention of God for humanity which was an intimate, seamless and a... Read more
The busy, dizzy bustle in this lonely, lonely world. Traffic moving forward. People moving back. More lights—the world’s a brighter place but look… Progressing dimness here in my soul. Hide the dimness—up the lights. Yell, at this world—yell at myself. Float my deepest feelings on national air waves Alone, I stay in the shallows. The busy, dizzy bustle in this growing, lonely world. Turn up the music—drown out the sound. Get louder the voices speaking from my soul. Sincere regrets... Read more
For those of you who have children, particularly young children, you know that one of the primary responsibilities of a parent is to ensure that the needs of your child are being met. That includes all of Maslow’s hierarchy. As a child matures, it becomes less and less our responsibility to meet the needs of that child. In fact, it is our responsibility to teach our children how to meet their own needs. I would go so far as to... Read more
a short blog post and poem written in response to our conversation with Peter Rollins on Doug Pagitt radio: http://dougpagittradio.com/beyond-idolatry Read more
If you’ve never come across it, you might find Nietzsche’s theory of eternal recurrence to be really helpful like I have. There is debate about whether Nietzsche actually believed it. I highly doubt that he did, but, nevertheless, I think it’s an interesting thought experiment. The basic idea is that you should live your life as if you would have to repeat it exactly the way you have lived it, over and over, forever. For me, this has helped me... Read more
I’m reconsidering a positive use of the word “church.” I have my criticisms, but I seem to be one of a very small number of people who are so allergic to it, at least in the worlds that I live in. Recently, a few of us started a new Emergent cohort here in Raleigh, NC, which has sparked this question. But, this post is more rhetorical in nature, in order to get to a better understanding of what the word... Read more
I recently read a biography of Desmond Tutu simply called “Tutu” – a read I highly recommend. This book was full of insights into an amazing human being. I’ll most likely be drawing from the wisdom I gleaned for years to come, but there is one piece of wisdom in particular I’d like to share with you today; it is a quote that Tutu often referred to when speaking with those suffering under the oppression of apartheid and a quote... Read more
Today, I’m posting about the American enterprise of war but really more about how precious is each person’s life and the cost of war to our humanity. “American Sons” is the poem. I apologize to all women because our daughters are now being sent to the front lines but when I wrote this poem, it was not the case. I beg your indulgence. American Sons by Randy Woodley © 2000 At what cost O God has this country been born?... Read more
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