Whether you are Christian or post-Christian, any way you slice it, it seems we are tasked with making sense of Jesus in a bizarro world. What might Jesus and his life possibly have to say to the mess we seem to find ourselves in? The Lenten Season and the lead-up to Holy Week is always a good time to ponder some of these questions. But where do we even start? In my previous post I talked about Lent and why... Read more
Sometimes when we are post some traditional notions of Christianity, especially as it pertains to ritual, we don’t always know how to engage them and engage them well. Especially, Lent and why it still might matter. If you have hung around this space for any length of time you know that my column is about a post-Christian conversation. What does it mean to engage god after God and faith after belief? These questions become a little more complex (not that... Read more
Well, it’s that time of year—Christmas! And in the theological world that only means one thing—vying hard for ‘your positions’ on the birth of Christ. Tis the season for a conversation on Jesus at Christmas. It never fails. It also never fails to produce never-ending eye rolls from yours truly. You can hop onto any Christian blogging site and find arguments for and against the virgin birth, the exact dates or lack thereof when Jesus was born, if wisemen or... Read more
If you know me you know I’m not one to shy away from difficult questions. I like to sit in the tension of the in-between the asking and the answering. I think that nebulous place is important. The one where it is impossible to be certain, and sincere thoughtfulness is the only required response. Last month my dear friend, who is also the senior pastor of a beautiful church in Southern California, asked me if I would spend a little... Read more
It’s International Female Orgasm Day and my question is how are you celebrating? I hope wherever you are you can, at the very least, have an orgasm. But more importantly I hope that you are in dialog with your sexuality endlessly in open and honest ways. Growing up as a Catholic girl the only reference I ever heard to sex and sexuality was in reference to the Virgin Mary. As a young Evangelical the conversation around sex and sexuality wasn’t... Read more
All too often we are left with theological ideas with no practical ways of how they play out in sight. Which is why I think it’s time to reconfigure some things. We are lit aflame with the passion of inspiration of the most beautiful and elegant and sometimes chaotic theological thought. But how do we move from our heads, and even from our hearts, into our lives and communities where this stuff actually matters? I am a post-Christian thinker and... Read more
For some reason, people are more concerned with the beliefs of Donald Trump than ever. Donald Trump and religion. Hmm. It is a complex relationship, indeed. But not because Trump’s relationship to faith is anything more than checking a political and social box. It is complex because of the relationship America has with religion, in particular Christianity, how it relates to the American presidency, and how it has shaped politics since the inception of the United States of America. Christian... Read more
As American living in the UK, one hear’s a lot about God, king, and country. As many of you know England has been abuzz with the coronation of Kings Charles III. Leading up to May 6 you heard anything from “God save the King!” to how distasteful the display was given the cost of living crisis Britain is currently experiencing. King Charles’ estimated worth of record is about $750 million, although because of laws that his late mother Queen Elizabeth... Read more
What is truth? Quid est veritas? Pilate’s question: Is it any different than ours? This curious query Pontius Pilate asked Jesus before giving him over to the crowd. Given his position, we can speculate that Pilate may have had knowledge of Greek philosophical thought. It stands to reason he may have danced with philosohical notions of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. He would have been living and worshipping in the context of the Roman imperial cult. He would have seen meaning and success... Read more
What does it mean to engage faith from a post-Christian perspective? Is that even possible? Viable? What does post-Christian even mean? There is a generation of faith crisis before us (which ultimately gives way to identity crisis). How are we engaging it? Over the last few years the deconstruction community has really brought the crisis of faith to the fore. The stats, surveys, and data that we have seen coming out of various studies, not least of which the landmark... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In