After talking to Bo Sanders of Homebrewed Christianity on the Doug Pagitt Radio show last week, I was inspired to write this piece about my shifting perspective on the crucifixion and my movement away from dualistic thinking about our souls and bodies. You may have to paste this link in your browser as I cannot remember how to make it blue, even though my husband showed me last week. Peace, Victoria http://dougpagittradio.com/resurrecting-the-crucifixion Read more
I would guess that most people who have grown up and stayed in churches do not know what it’s like for many to leave. Please, if you are a person who has been in the church for your entire life, please take some time to read the stories of people who have left. And read about how cults function. Try to put yourself in the place of someone who simply can’t go along. Someone who has a lot of doubts, questions, problems.... Read more
I have heard it said that all prayer is heresy, but God in His infinite love magnetically draws our badly misdirected arrows directly to his heart. Having always considered myself to be a faithful follower of the way of Christ, I have called myself “Christian,” I have called myself “evangelical”. I have considered myself orthodox. As I have continued to grow, I have begun to see that the labels I have worn have very different meanings for different folks. I... Read more
I was provildege to talk with Kimberly Yim the author of Refuse to do Nothing: Finding Your Power to Abolish Modern-Day Slavery on Doug Pagitt Radio today. Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Read more
I’ve spent the last few days revisiting some old friends in Oklahoma City, the city where I grew up and where, when I moved away, I was a pastor. I haven’t been back in a few years, partially because I had been in a difficult place, personally. The last time I visited, I was pretty bitter about some things that had happened to me, and I wasn’t able to fully accept and embrace where or who I was. So, I... Read more
Welcome to the beginning of a collaboration between various people called “SKEPTIMERGENT.” This dialogue began as a chat between myself, Rob Davis (who coined the title), Jeff Straka, Doug Pagitt, Victoria Peterson-Hilleque, and Chris Hill, and ended up as a Patheos blog. I have long been interested in building bridges between those in the unbelieving community (atheists, agnostics, humanists, skeptics, naturalists, etc.) and liberal religious persons, and as such, I jumped at the chance to be involved in a conversation... Read more
Some of my reflections about feminism and privilege after being on the Doug Pagitt Radio show last week: Confessions of Privilege from a White Feminist by victoria on January 31, 2013 There is not much that screams feminist as loudly as a hyphenated last name like mine. When identifying myself as a feminist, I often feel the same way I do when revealing I am a Christian. I want to make a few disclaimers that define my kind of feminism.... Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote critically about a meeting of Emergence Christianity folks that happened in Memphis in advance of Phyllis Tickle’s national book event. I want to clarify a few things. I LOVE the emergent movement and it’s the only reason I am a practicing Christian again, (nothing short of a miracle here.) I’m blessed by this body of work and by the friendships I have made here. It is, as a friend tells me a “generative... Read more
In AA’s big book on page 61, a question is asked, “What is his basic trouble? Is he not really a self-seeker even when trying to be kind? Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only manages well? Is it not evident to all the rest of the players that these are the things he wants? Is he not even in his best moments a producer... Read more
I come from a Christian culture that defined “holiness” (being like God) as the ability to follow imperatives or rules. These were affirmed by the Christian story I was formed in, which of course was said to be BIBLICAL. I think the church is badly in need of (or perhaps it’s the church experience I came from), is badly in need of a re-definition of what constitutes “holiness”; but to get to this re-definition we need to begin at the... Read more
Emergent Village
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