Is your soul an immaterial substance that, with a soulechtomy, can be extracted from your body? Is the soul made out of an immortal material? Or, is it better to use the word, "soul," to refer to the whole person that includes body, soul, and spirit? Read more
Let's take a tour through options, through alternative theologices of the soul such as Emergent Dualism, Nonreductive Physicalism, Theological Materialism, Atheistic Materialism, and, finally, a Trichotomy of soul with body and spirit. All these are distinctively Christian theological pictures; but along the way we’ll look briefly at Hinduism and Buddhism for comparison. Read more
Two hazards frighten our otherwise optimistic AI techies. First, the possibility of superintelligence -- what our transhumanists have been calling the "Singularity" -- taking over the world and dispensing with the human race. Second, bad actors with malicious intent getting a hold on powerful AI tools and disrupting global communications while letting loose lethal autonomous weapons. Read more
Religion and Science Weekend, sponsored by the Clergy Letter Project, will be February 9-11, 2024. Let's ask the scientists in our congregations to stand up to tell us what they do and why their work contributes to the common good. Read more
What does "public" mean in "public systematic theology? According to Michael Agerbo Morch,the use of “public” is a reference to the criterion of intersubjectivity. Theology must be discussed in a language that is understandable and accessible to non-theologians. Read more
In Ad Theologiam Promovendam of November 2023 ,Pope Francis opened the Vatican windows for the winds of contextual theology to blow through. Will the gusts from ecumenical and interreligious whirlwinds as well as the tornadoes from natural science blow the pages of inherited dogma off desk theology? Read more
In this 2024 election cycle, I'm worried. Why? Here's Ted's Timely Take: when it's power vs goodness, most people will choose power. Read more
Public systematic theology necessitates engagement in interreligious dialogue and comparative theology when engaging in discourse clarification and worldview construction. Read more
Introducing Michael Morch's new book, SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY AS A RATIONALLY JUSTIFIED PUBLIC DISCOURSE ABOUT GOD. By exacting scientific criteria such as coherence, what the theologian conceives in the church become intelligible to the wider culture. Read more
The handy Russian word, 'matushka', means 'mother' but refers to the wife of a priest. Matushka Olga of Alaska was just glorified in 2023. What might wives of male Luthean pastors think about being matushkas. Well, check out an organization not yet online, Suipporting Husbands in Theology. It's abbreviated, SHIT. Read more
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