The Nonviolent Atonement: Brian McLaren and James Alison on Violence, God, and Mimetic Theory

Last updated on: October 7, 2013 at 4:29 pm By Adam Ericksen

[Editor’s Note: This post, by Adam Ericksen from The Raven Foundation, is the second in our new weekly series on Mimetic Theory.] I’ve been excited to tell you this ever since July…There has been much anticipated within mimetic theory circles for the conversation between Brian McLaren and James Alison and I can now tell you that it has been posted! You can listen to the podcast over at Homebrewed Christianity by clicking here. I first need to point out that this recording never would have... Read more

Brian McLaren on Passing on the Faith

Last updated on: September 5, 2013 at 4:03 pm By Deborah Arca

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All month here at Patheos, we’ve been exploring the topic of Passing on the Faith to our children. How do we pass on this faith we cherish so much to our beloved children? A fantastic group of voices and perspectives from across the religious spectrum have weighed in on this important question, from Progressive Christians (Phyllis Tickle, Mark Yaconelli, Melvin Bray, to name a few), to Hindus to Pagans to Catholics. Check out the Symposium here. I had a chance to... Read more

Dying for a Drink

Last updated on: August 28, 2013 at 11:16 pm By Jim Burklo

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(an excerpt from SOULJOURN, my new novel) We worked all day. Dad and Rachel were on one team, Father Crespi and I were on another, refilling tanks, cleaning up trash around them, and placing new ones. Five new blue flags, marking the new tanks, waved defiantly against the demon of thirst, and fluttered in the breeze over the desert at sundown that evening. The crew enjoyed a dinner at Rachel’s house prepared by the Women’s Society of the Federated... Read more

To Sing and Dance: Confessions of a Religious, but Not Spiritual

Last updated on: August 28, 2013 at 9:47 pm By Rachel Johnson

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When I think about spiritual disciplines as something I need to do in order to be a “good” Christian, every fiber of my being rebels. But when I think about them as roadmaps, paths that a great cloud of witnesses have traversed for thousands of years before me, then there is a stirring in my soul. Read more

Introducing Mimetic Mondays: Exploring God and Violence

Last updated on: October 7, 2013 at 4:29 pm By Deborah Arca

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Mimetic Theory. It’s a phrase that’s been popping up in conversations and blogposts about violence, and particularly the violence in the Bible, from the likes of Brian McLaren, Kevin Miller, Christian Piatt and other progressive Christian thinkers as of late. Being new to the concept myself, I decided we needed some experts to come and unpack this theory for us at Patheos. Starting today, we’ll begin a Mimetic Mondays weekly series, in which Suzanne Ross and Adam Ericksen of The Raven... Read more

Itchy Intentions for a Messy World: A Tale of Two Festivals

Last updated on: August 22, 2013 at 8:11 pm By Deborah Arca

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A dozen bug bites and one gold intention bracelet. My arm, currently adorned with both, has become a living totem pole of sorts this week, a reminder of two different spiritual communities I entered into, and was gifted by, within a week of each other. From the hot, humid and muddy campground of the Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, North Carolina (the bug bites) to the serene, flower-filled air-conditioned rooms of the Wake Up Festival in the Rocky Mountains... Read more

Matheomatics

Last updated on: August 20, 2013 at 10:09 pm By Jim Burklo

St. John of the Cross, the Spanish mystical priest of the 16th century, drew a map of the soul’s journey, and entitled it The Ascent of Mt. Carmel. The path up the mountain was marked with the words “nada nada nada nada”. His was the “via negativa”, the way of negation that led to direct encounter with God. By embracing nada – nothing – the soul released its attachments to all things so that, unencumbered, it could climb to its... Read more

Opening the Heart: an excerpt from my new Patheos Press novel, SOULJOURN

Last updated on: August 15, 2013 at 6:33 pm By Jim Burklo

An excerpt from SOULJOURN, my new novel (Chapter 6): I went home, said goodnight to Dad, and went to bed. The moonlight bathed my bedroom. The silence seemed to beg to be filled. I opened the bedroom window and leaned out and looked up at Cobre Mountain, faintly glowing in the white light. I felt like I could reach out and touch it, it seemed so close. The weight, the mass of the mountain overwhelmed me. There really was something... Read more

Wild Goose Day Four: Ecosystems

Last updated on: August 12, 2013 at 3:52 pm By Eric Smith

My branch of mostly-white Protestant Christianity is obsessed with its own death. It frets about its demise constantly, asks itself how to prevent its decline, worries about its legacy, and, like a dying plant, apportions its resources in bare maintenance patterns, often in levels too low to really support life. But I think we sometimes miss the forest for the trees. Read more

Wild Goose Day Three: Closer To Fine

Last updated on: August 12, 2013 at 3:54 pm By Eric Smith

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I don’t know if I’ve ever had an ecstatic religious experience before. Certainly those experiences aren’t readily had in my branch of white Protestant Christianity. I could probably point to moments throughout my years at evangelical summer camps, youth group, college Bible studies, and church services where I have been transported, transfixed, and moved by experiences. But I don’t know if anything will ever compare to the Indigo Girls show on Saturday night of the 2013 Wild Goose Festival. I... Read more

How old was Abraham when Sarah died?