Vladimir V. Putin’s op-ed piece in the NYTimes has set off a flurry of responses, some of them appreciative and some of them attempts at deconstruction. He definitely scored some points, and comes off looking like the diplomatic peace-maker instead of war-monger. The question I ask is this: Will Putin permit President Obama the same space at the same media level for his own op-ed piece to Russia? If he were to permit it, which I doubt, and President Obama were... Read more
We are now into the second week of school around here. A new set of freshman (or “first years”) have arrived, ready to begin a new phase of life. Away from home and exposed to new ideas. It is rather popular among Christian bloggers and others to reflect on how students, away from the constraints and support of home and home church can hang onto faith. The University, after all, is a melting pot of ideas. Christian faith holds no... Read more
From Andy Rowell: 5 reasons why there are so many people doing D.Min. programs today 1. A Ph.D. is too painful and a D.Min. is just right. I think it is too expensive, long, and painful to get a Ph.D. for most people. The average time for a Duke Ph.D. in Religion is 5.8 years and that is one of the very best stipends and student-friendly programs anywhere. And, even if you survive for 6 years living on $20,000 a year (at best), it is... Read more
This morning I posted about reconciliation in Ireland, and here’s a good graphic about Ireland: An infographic by Competitions.ie Read more
Amanda Bast: What if my ultimate goal has nothing to do with marriage or kids or a career? What if my aim was to love people well, and to fully embrace the gifts I’ve been given? Would that be enough? What if my life goal was to simply run the race, to be called a good and faithful servant at the end of it all? Maybe that would mean marriage and children and a thriving career, but maybe it wouldn’t.... Read more
OK, Kathy Escobar, I get your point, but I’m a theologian and we like this question… but you are right, it’s often a veiled question designed to size up someone’s status in your own ranking … truth be told, i have a lot of pet peeves. i can’t stand when people slurp when they drink out of a cup (worse than nails on a chalkboard for me), snow (that’s not in the mountains when i’m skiing) bugs the $*#^!&! out... Read more
The only way toward unity when we are fragmented is love. When we love one another grace breaks out in fresh and exciting ways. I’m from the USA and for the whole of my publicly-conscious life I’ve never been able to comprehend why the Irish can’t get along. For a refresher, Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales), and the Republic of Ireland is an independent country and not part of England. I listened in on... Read more
I was thinking of the apostle Paul and how his past, so far as we can know, prepared him for his life as an apostle. God used his life in Tarsus to prepare Paul to be the great integrator, though it took an eye-twittering experience of seeing Jesus himself to accept the challenge. Some people observe that Paul’s mission drove his theology, and they are right. But what was Paul’s mission? How would you summarize it? Is there one word... Read more
From USA Today: Something to smile about? Americans are not the happiest people on earth, but we do rank a respectable No. 17, among 156 countries evaluated for a new United Nations report. The second annual World Happiness Report, released Monday, finds the highest levels of happiness in Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden, all in northern Europe. The lowest ranked were Rwanda, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Benin and Togo, all in Africa. The report, from the U.N. Sustainable... Read more
This post wraps up our look at Gerald Rau’s book Mapping the Origins Debate: Six Models of the Beginning of Everything. The final two chapters What Can We Learn From Each Other and The Heart of the Debate summarize his discussion and set the stage for moving forward. I can’t do complete justice to the arguments he makes in one short post, and I won’t try. I will highlight a few of the points that raise the largest questions for... Read more
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