“Man needs to know that he is born to freedom, hence to tragedy, but also to opportunity. He could be harmless enough, were he less free. Freedom is our opportunity and our tragic destiny. To face this tragedy courageously we need an adequate vision of the opportunity, as well as the danger.” — Charles Hartshorne, Beyond Humanism, 1937 America’s presidential election season is the occasion for a great deal of rhetoric about freedom. But what is it? Charles Hartshorne was... Read more

It’s a rare and wonderful day when I get to spend an hour alone with two of my favorite leading lights of the progressive Christian landscape. And so it was this week, when I found myself sitting in a creaky chair in the choir alcove of the beautiful, historical St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Denver on a crisp fall afternoon, knee to knee with Brian McLaren and Nadia Bolz-Weber and my iPhone DropVox recorder. Brian was in town promoting his... Read more

Popular Patheos blogger, famous ex-Evangelical, and very vocal critic of the Religious Right Frank Schaeffer gave a terrific interview to Deputy Editor Nicholas G. Hahn III over at RealClear Religion this week.  We’ve excerpted a few of our favorite responses here; click on the link below to read the rest of the interview at RCR. Frank “Franky” Schaeffer is the son of the late Christian apologist and pro-life activist Francis Schaeffer. He has not followed in his father’s footsteps, to put... Read more

It’s here! It’s here! The October Pottery Barn catalog…be still my heart. I mean, it might be 105 in the shade outside. But inside, with me and my coffee and my favorite leather club chair (which did NOT come from Pottery Barn) it is nothing but fall bliss. Pumpkins, colored leaves, fragrant warm beverages, crisp evening air, the promise of friends gathering to share a good meal…and that’s just the cover! Let me be clear. There is only one thing... Read more

I started my Tennessee sabbatical with a story about 3 peace activists who recently shut down the Y12 bomb plant here in Oak Ridge with a stunning protest, armed only with a bible and flowers.  I figure I’ll end my sabbatical with another great story of East Tennessee mischief. This is the story of one of my favorite flash-mob actions, which happened right here in Knoxville.  And this year marks its 5-year anniversary. It all happened on May 26, 2007.... Read more

This is the third in a series on Bryan Berghoef’s new book, Pub Theology: Beer, Conversation, and God. Read the first and second post here and here. Excerpt from Chapter 6: An (Un)Safe Place Many of us who have spent some time at these pub discussions over the last several years have found that when we open ourselves up, we have a lot to learn! Atheists and agnostics began to show up asking questions like, “Why?” “Why is there something, rather than nothing?”... Read more

In 1464, not long after Easter, the secretary to Nicolas of Cusa, a Catholic cardinal, noticed a marked change in the demeanor of his superior. Cusa’s health had been fragile for a while. But now his face was beaming with joy. After being absorbed in meditation for weeks around the time of Easter, Cusa was ready to reveal what he had just discovered. Peter of Erkelenz, his secretary, wondered what Cusa could add to his already impressive body of theological... Read more

In 1776, Tom Paine published “Common Sense”, a widely-read pamphlet that rallied the colonists of America to declare independence from Britain. You can almost hear the penny-whistled tune of “Yankee Doodle” in the background at the mention of his name. But his role as a founder of our nation was but one of his causes. In 1796, he agitated for governments to institute systems of guaranteed income for all, in order to wipe out abject poverty in society. He argued... Read more

By Greg Barrett Four years ago during the homestretch of the U.S. presidential election, the Democratic and Republican nominees were asked about the existence of evil by an evangelical Christian pastor who supported the 2003 military invasion of Iraq. At his super-sized McMansion church in Orange County, Calif., Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren quizzed Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain separately and in front of a live TV audience. Among other things, Warren asked each this question: “Does evil exist?... Read more

When I want to get under the surface of things, I re-read the “proverbios” of the early 20th c. Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, and those of the later 20th c. Argentine poet, Antonio Porchia.  Both men lived simply, loved deeply, and are cherished still as poets in their respective homelands. I don’t know if Porchia ever read Machado.  But in any case, their sensibilities were strikingly similar.  Their proverbs command my meditative attention.  They snap me out of my assumptions, lead me out of... Read more