Personal and individual are terms relating to our American lives that show us why U.S. Christian claims at understanding Scripture are almost always in some ways bogus. Personal Jesus. Is he? Is Jesus your personal savior and Lord? Do you think that the Bible teaches we should think of Jesus in that way, and proclaim him to be that over our lives? Such is the claim belonging to an overwhelming majority of American Christian Bible readers professing to understand what... Read more
Trump wins another term or the likelihood of Sanders and Warren joining forces—all this shows how foreign our Bible is! Trump is on a lot of people’s minds this Super Tuesday. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren could achieve much more united than divided. They could shake the establishment by coming together to stop Donald Trump. Either could be the Presidential nominee. The other would be the VP. Together they would be a force. Joe Biden would be finished, and so... Read more
Temptation!—Satan faces off against Jesus in a battle often poorly understood by 21st century Western Christians. Temptation given to Jesus in the wilderness by Satan makes for a story about which most Western Christians are only spuriously familiar! Diving into our Lenten journey toward Easter—yet still reeling from recent Catholic abuses of power— this upcoming Sunday’s Gospel tells a Synoptic story that might offer us healing and new direction if we have new eyes with which to read it. It... Read more
Bransfield and Vanier show us deep problems in how we enable our Catholic leaders and view holiness. Bransfield, Vanier, and a host of other scandals keep rocking Catholics. This week, the Catholic world reels from learning dark secrets of manipulation and abuse from Jean Vanier. Hailed as “a living saint,” Vanier psychologically and sexually abused at least six women in over fifty years, this all documented in a report commissioned by L’Arche, the very France-based charity organization Vanier founded. Meanwhile,... Read more
Popes and Peter relate, as do Apostles and Bishops—but never in oversimplified ways. Popes are counted at 266 in all by very popular Catholic understanding. These Roman popes are considered by Catholics as the heirs of Saint Peter Apostle, bishop of Rome. At least that is how popular imagination has it. That is the language we use about what happened to the illiterate Galilean fisherman Simeon bar Yonah ha kefa ha ṣaddîq. A couple days ago, on February 22, Catholics... Read more
Hero and living saint?—no, just a fellow dying inmate in the mental asylum that is the world. Hero. Saint. Mystic. These are the words that roll off the tongue for Canadian Catholic philosopher, theologian, and humanitarian, Jean Vanier. He founded L’Arche meaning “the Ark,” a home for men with developmental disabilities, in Trosly-Breuil, France. Its work of love spread worldwide. Vanier co-founded Faith and Light, a movement in 86 countries uniting in friendship people with and without intellectual disabilities. Vanier was a... Read more
Canon or canon within the Canon?—Why the difference between Mark 8 and Matthew 16 matters! Today’s Gospel reading, dated about 70 CE, offers us Catholics a front-row seat to see how the Gospels evolved. It also helps us to understand better something we take for granted, namely, the biblical canon. This is the official list of sacred documents that make up the library that the Church believes to be inspired (i.e., the Bible). Let’s read today’s Gospel, and then compare it... Read more
Affirm! Deny! and Grow! How does a sophisticated articulation of faith happen and relate to theology? “Affirm the faith! Teach the faith!” But faith never exists in a ziplock bag, sealed away in a theologically-pure state. “Stop theologizing! Just teach THE Faith!” Any attempt to teach “the Faith” necessarily mixes into it theology, God-talk. But we have good and bad theologies, mature and not-so-mature theologies. Affirmations and statements of assent to the Tradition need not be poor theologically speaking. By that I... Read more
Righteousness is the topic of the Matthean Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” and in this Sunday’s Gospel, it must surpass that of the hated Scribes. Righteousness plays a huge role throughout the document we call “Matthew.” The call of righteousness for all disciples of Jesus takes center stage in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1—7:29). This Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 5:17-37) dives into the famous sermon on ideal behavior for the disciples of Jesus. Setting up the Sermon on Righteousness... Read more
Married or not?—how does Jesus relate to priestly celibacy and to Mary Magdalene? Married clergy ain’t going to happen anytime soon. Papa Francis, disregarding the Amazonian crisis in light of more menacing problems, just took a tip from his predecessor, Paul VI. That pontiff was called “the Hamlet pope” (“to be or not to be”). His advice? Try to please everyone. By the way, that is the guaranteed recipe for failure. Don’t believe me? Just ask Paul VI and the... Read more
Messy Inspirations
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