I recently replaced the vacuum breaker on an outdoor anti-siphon spigot. There was a time when that sentence would have seemed not only implausible but as incomprehensible as a discussion of the ontological ramifications of perichoretic symbolism on Romanian Orthodox iconostases sounds to most people. But the faucet was leaking, and so I got on YouTube and learned what I needed to do. And I did it. In the past, unless one had been apprenticed in such skills, one simply... Read more
It was interesting to find myself discussing the question of whether the arts can provide knowledge or make progress in the way science can, and then to have a post about the same topic in relation to theology appear on Sandwalk. I created a draft post, and then didn’t return to it for quite some time, as you may have noticed often occurs. But this topic kept coming up. Roger Olson wrote in a post called “Has Science Buried God?”: Much... Read more
Seth Price had me as a guest on his podcast last year. We’ve talked about following up and having him be a guest on mine at some point, but we have yet to make it happen. But as a follow-up, Seth made a transcript of the podcast and added it to the website recently. He indicates that it is a combination of automated software and what he heard and so there could be errors. But there is at least one point... Read more
No, this post is not announcing that Butler University is ceasing to be a secular university. And no, I’m not offering a theological interpretation of what goes on here even so. Not that that would be entirely inappropriate. We honor the values of our founder, Ovid Butler, and those values were theological in character and foundation. But they were also adamantly inclusive, and so is Butler. And that makes for a nice connection with what is the focus of this post,... Read more
Carl Pace shared a favorite quote from the Maharal of Prague that I wanted to share here on the blog: It is wrong for those who love research and knowledge to dismiss any position that opposes their faith, especially if the opponent is not intending to provoke or vex but only to express his own belief. Even if his words are antithetical to their own beliefs and their religion, they should not say, “Stop speaking, shut your mouth,” for if... Read more
Some years ago I participated in a Wabash Center workshop that required me, as I worked on a research project, to keep a journal. My attitude going in was that the process would likely resemble this Dilbert comic strip: In fact, however, the experience was genuinely transformative. It made me appreciate that my workflow was not lengthy periods of frustrating procrastination followed by frantic work to meet a deadline or simply finish, as it sometimes seemed even to me (I can... Read more
I’m delighted to resume my blog series “Paul APB.” For those who may have forgotten or may be new to the blog, and thus may not get the pun, in the United States “APB” stands for “All Points Bulletin” and was a common way of referring to an urgent police message, especially when they were looking for someone. APB is also a good abbreviation for “A Polite Bribe,” which is part of the title of Rob Orlando’s great movie about... Read more
I continue to find the things that I read and watch while working on my book What Jesus Learned From Women fascinating, and the new things that jump out at me as I ask neglected questions truly remarkable. I’ll be sharing more about some of those things in blog posts in the not too distant future. But until I find the time to get to that, here’s a round-up of some things that I’ve found useful and interesting which I... Read more
I shared something a while back that led to me having a conversation with another white American male, one whose late wife was African-American and who has a child that is thus considered “black” in the American imposition of racist binaries. The conversation was about the idea and the terminology of white privilege. As our conversation proceeded, I very much started to grasp his perspective on what he found problematic about the terminology, in particular that privilege is not something... Read more
Even before I finished listening to the audiobook of Orson Scott Card’s novel Xenocide, I knew I was going to find and share this quote. Doing so was easy, since others had found it worth sharing before me. I appreciate the sentiment, and it is one that is theologically rich. Unlike many of humanity’s most classic and best-known depictions of the divine, a real God (whatever that might mean) ought not to be threatened by humans and so feel the need to... Read more
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