Patheos is developing a forum for conversation exploring many areas of faith in our culture. Inevitably this will touch at times on issues of science, reason, and faith – an article by James Hannam on his book God’s Philosophers, a Veritas Forum lecture by Dr. Collins Learning the Language of God, and an atheist bemoaning the accommodationist tendencies of many, including the National Academy of Sciences, in The War Between Science and Religion are just a few examples. In one... Read more
If you haven’t seen this interview with Kenda Dean by Deborah Arca Mooney, please check it out. Kenda Dean’s new book, Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, makes some basic claims: one is that far too many of America’s “Christian” youth have absorbed “moralistic therapeutic deism” and her second is that the church context is responsible. (I take this to include parents, pastors and churches.) What is it that stimulates “generative” faith, a faith that... Read more
My Dublin friend, Patrick Mitchel, recently traveled from Washington to California in a car with his family — a Road Trip — and when he got back deposited a fun set of observations about “We the People.” What would you add to this list? Some months ago I did a post on ‘Those Germans’. So, after spending quite a bit of July in the ‘Lower 48′ here are some mostly positive and not very deep reflections on ‘Those Americans’. As before,... Read more
Confession belongs to one word: truth-telling, and David learned precisely that. That experience of learning to tell the truth about who we are and what we have done is precisely what David puts into words in Psalm 32 (read after the jump). Not only does David tell his story, he encourages others to learn what he learned: the grace of forgiveness only comes to those who tell God the truth. While David begins (vv. 1-2) with the blessedness of knowing... Read more
John Mark Reynolds, at the WaPo discussion, weighs in on civil religion with an opener with quoting and recalling… Civil religion may be one of the few things less popular than Glenn Beck at Harvard. Two psychological conditions account for most of this fear and loathing. A combination of theophobia–the irrational fear of all things religious–and political dextrophobia–an unhealthy worry about the right side of the body politic–runs unchecked in the blood stream of such schools, disabling the open-mindedness normally... Read more
Susan Thistlethwaite, a fellow UCC member with President Obama, weighs in on Obama’s faith and sees him, as does David Brooks, as a Niebuhrian realist and not a liberation theologian. President Obama is a Christian, and a fairly typical United Church of Christ sort of Christian at that. On June 23, 2007, then candidate Obama spoke to the United Church of Christ General Synod in Hartford, CT. I was there at that church event, and his speech on a “Politics... Read more
I didn’t post my own thoughts about Glenn Beck’s rally in DC, and I’m convinced we need to do everything we can to dissociate our faith from a political party, though not from stating our views on particular issues, but I’m annoyed with his decision to weigh in on Obama’s theology and beliefs when Beck himself, a Mormon, seems to be siding with Christians — and I mean he is siding with orthodox, conservative, evangelical Christians — and seems to... Read more
This post was originally published at The High Calling, but it’s Labor Day and this essay is my own theory of work, and it leads me to ask you this set of questions: How do you approach work? Why do we work? How does a Christian approach work? How do we look at the rather ordinariness of so much of what we do? Do you think Tolkien’s approach to “Niggle’s leaves” helps? How? Julian Barnes, an atheist, claims that he... Read more
If you’ve been to a foreign country you may well have had an experience like the one John describes below. That country could well be — and often is — awash in controversies that have absolutely no hearing in the USA. Issues, persons, concerns, politics … it always varies. John tells the story of the influence of an American, Paul Washer, in the Ukraine. What do you know of Paul Washer? John Frye writes… On my recent ministry trip to... Read more
I didn’t have a book review submission for Saturday afternoon’s customary slot so I’ll post this brief review/report myself on Sunday. It is a custom at Jesus Creed to post reviews by readers of the blog, and all you have to do is send me your review. The basic format is to focus on a careful summary and then interaction. Our Sunday reviews are much shorter notices of books that our readers will find interesting. Robert Spitzer is a former... Read more
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