We thought we’d post some pictures of things (places, events, etc) of what we like about Italy … so here goes… [click on them to enlargen] First, historic cities like Siena — … and historic churches like this Romanesque church in Monteriggioni… (more…) Read more
Chapter 14 of Alister McGrath’s book A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology deals with the question of teleology and directionality in evolution. The neo-Darwinian paradigm, (that popularized by Richard Dawkins for example), is that evolution is an undirected, highly contingent, random process. Evolution simply operates to preserve the replication of genetic information. McGrath quotes Stephen Jay Gould: “We are the accidental result of an unplanned process…. the fragile result of an enormous concatenation of improbabilities,... Read more
A CNN.com article reports about gaccaca proceedings in Rwanda, and a book I read recently provides ample stories and illustrations of the same. After a tough history of tension with occasional bursts of violence and bloodshed, in April 1994 Rwanda broke open and for 100 days radical Hutus slaughtered Tutsis and even moderate Hutus. Somewhere between 800,000 and a million humans beings died — and in the most gruesome of ways. Did anyone see the PBS special or the documentary?... Read more
I like the walls of building in Italian villages and cities. The walls tells stories of age and repair and design. So, when Kris and I are sipping a latte at an outdoor cafe, my eyes often wander to the exteriors of buildings I can see. Here are three, one from Monteriggioni, Assisi, and Volpaia: Read more
Once again, Mary Veeneman, professor in theology at North Park University, steps up to guide us into understanding Pope Benedict XVI’s most recent statement. This is the second of a two-part post. Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate is the latest document in the corpus of Catholic Social Teaching, as we have been discussing. One of the more frustrating aspects of working on CST, though, is that different groups will choose to emphasize different elements of CST. There are some... Read more
Once again, Mary Veeneman, professor in theology at North Park University, steps up to guide us into understanding Pope Benedict XVI’s most recent statement. This is the second of a two-part post. Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate is the latest document in the corpus of Catholic Social Teaching, as we have been discussing. One of the more frustrating aspects of working on CST, though, is that different groups will choose to emphasize different elements of CST. There are some... Read more
It all begins with God — what we think about God shapes what we think about ourselves and those around us and our world. It begins with God. What is our “narrative” of God? What are the narratives that hinder our perception and life in God? James Bryan Smith, in The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love With the God Jesus Knows (The Apprentice Series) , in chp. 9, closes off this set of studies about God by ….... Read more
One evening Kris and I dined in a lovely hill town called Lucignano, and one of our greatest delights about traveling in Italy is wandering and finding some small village or some city off the maps of tourists. Maybe our lack of Italian keeps us from communicating much with those in such places, but the authenticity of the place more than makes up for it. Lucignano was one such place. Here am I ruminating over a menu — looking over... Read more
Once again, Mary Veeneman, professor in theology at North Park University, steps up to guide us into understanding Pope Benedict XVI’s most recent statement. This is a two-part post and tomorrow Mary will explore the significance of this new statement. Today Mary sets the stage by sketching Catholic social vision — and I wish I could point to more of this by evangelical thinkers. Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclial Caritas in Veritate is the latest encyclical that falls under the rubric... Read more
Our friend, PW, writes posts for the Jesus Creed blog on what it is like to be a pastor’s spouse (in her case a “wife” — hence, PW). This one is about weddings, and I’d love to hear some pastor stories about weddings. This recent YouTube video popularity sparked me to remember all the weddings that I have been witness to as a PW. Some wedding seasons are the traditional, standard fare. Others are quite unique. How about you? Ministry... Read more
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