So I wound up thinking a bit more about that hypothetical debate between Dr. Kroeger and my grandmother (who believed women were forbidden to preach) in the Heaven we sometimes imagine (which surely isn’t right, but maybe isn’t wholly wrong) and I realized that the idea didn’t make much sense. If that’s anything like what Heaven is like, then the last thing anyone there would ever need to worry about would be arguing over the meaning of disputed interpretations of... Read more

Give. Pray. Hope. Remember. Love. News item: “Red Cross responds: region on tsunami alert” The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies describes the situation: A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake – the seventh largest recorded in history – struck the eastern coast of Japan at 14:46 local time today, 11 March. The earthquake’s epicentre was located 130 kilometres off the eastern coast of Japan, and some 373 kilometres north-east of Tokyo. A number of severe 6.4-magnitude aftershocks have followed.... Read more

That video, created and posted to YouTube by lonzo625, perfectly captures not just the retrofuturistic theme of the song  — “(It’s the ’80s, Where’s Our) Rocket Packs,” by the band Daniel Amos — but the way its own “futuristic” sound itself now seems like a time-capsule relic from the early 1980s. I’ve thought of that song a few times recently due to a series of recent stories in which robots seem to feature prominently. First there was all that business... Read more

Let me first say that I have been humbled to have learned anew how important the TypePad site was to many people as a safe space, a home — or an inn, at least, or oasis — where one could be and connect without being reminded at every turn that there are others, far too many others, who think there’s something wrong with you, or who blame you just for being you, blame you for your identity, your history, your... Read more

The Journal of John Woolman is online. I guess that makes sense. It’s in the public domain now. But reading Woolman’s Journal online seems strange to me, since it’s one of those books I turn to now and then when I’m looking for respite from online buzz and bother. His gentle, unpolished reflections — it’s a journal, after all — offer a kind of retreat. Reading my copy of Woolman’s Journal isn’t just an encounter with this long-gone Quaker saint.... Read more

Dr. Catherine Clark Kroeger has died. Kroeger, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, helped to change the world for the better by founding two valuable and necessary organizations, Christians for Biblical Equality and PASCH (Peace and Safety in Christian Homes). Here is her Boston Globe obituary, and a memorial post from Christians for Biblical Equality. CBE has become a leading voice for what evangelical Christians refer to as an “egalitarian view of ministry.” In its own words, it is an... Read more

If you ever want to know about the creation, nurture and health of online communities, ask Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden. They’ve been doing this and thinking about how it works since before the Web, and you can see the results in the community of commenters at their blog, Making Light, where I often lurk to enjoy the conversation there, feeling like a busboy at the Algonquin in the ’20s. “Design matters,” Patrick says, and he did such a nifty... Read more

OK, let’s try that again. Reboot. Reset. Restart. Reinstall. Seek to be born again, as it were. Big news. Really big news. Very exciting news, I think, but also not terribly disruptive news if we do this right. Well, safe to say I’m 0-for-1 so far. Let me first address what the move won’t mean. The good news is it won’t mean any changes in the substance, content or frequency of this blog. And thus, of course, the bad news... Read more