by Bethanie Ryan In her new book Colliding with Destiny, Sarah Jakes explores the book of Ruth to harvest for us what messages she might have for people today. Ruth has long been one of my favorite books of the Bible. As a feminist, I appreciate the fact it is led by two strong women. As an armchair Biblical scholar, I like to explore the world in which Ruth and Naomi lived in order to better understand them. As a woman... Read more
The central premise of “Former Fundie” blogger Benjamin Corey’s first book Undiluted: Rediscovering the Radical Message of Jesus is that the American church has profoundly corrupted the gospel and is in serious need of a wake-up call. Specifically, Corey has found that American Christians have lost track of what he believes to be the central and “undiluted” message of Jesus: “a straightforward invitation to follow him, and to learn to be like him.” In each chapter, Corey pushes his readers... Read more
We coin the phrase “paradigm shift” to describe a complete change of frame of reference, a complete restructuring of reality as we know it, a replacement of what we’ve always known with something unforeseen or utterly unknown. Often this can be subliminal, working change quietly, yet deeply, in the worlds both around and inside us. For example, the advent of the computer and the Internet has made things quite different for those who can remember life without them. We can... Read more
If one duty of the church is—as Proverbs 31 commands—to “speak on behalf of the voiceless,” J.R. Briggs’s Fail: Finding Hope and Grace in the Midst of Ministry Failure is truly doing a good work. The voiceless population he calls into the healing light of grace is pastors who have “failed,” those who—at least according to the megachurch standards of Western culture—have not managed to grow their congregations large enough, swell their coffers heavy enough, or expand their parking lots... Read more
By Dale McGowan Managing Editor, Patheos Atheist Channel About twice a week, as I’m drifting off to sleep, the deep unfairness of conscious mortality takes a bite out of me. I flinch and gasp; my wife stirs and grumbles, “You’re fine.” No, I think, I’m really not. And neither are you. And I go to sleep, and in the morning, I’m fine. Mostly fine. In addition to the undeniable luck and wonder of being alive in the universe, there’s also... Read more
Book Review: Introduction to the History of Christianity, Second Edition, Edited by Tim Dowley One of the most serious things at work today to keep Western Christianity shallow, eroding its transforming power and blunting its cultural impact for good and justice worldwide is our ignorance of what’s happened between Acts 28 and breakfast this morning. We know a few names even if we’re not sure why they’re important. I told a young Presbyterian seminary student interning with us that he will have... Read more
Across America, particularly among adults under age 33, secularism is on the rise. Nearly one third of Millennials, according to the Pew Research Center, don’t identify with a particular religion. And 20 percent of Americans overall describe themselves as nonreligous. So what happens when a nonbeliever falls in love with a believer? Popular author and secular humanist Dale McGowan has some answers. McGowan, a self-professed atheist from age 13, married a believing Baptist at age 28. His personal experience, as well... Read more
If, as Madeleine L’Engle has written, a book “can be a star, ‘explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly,’ a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe,” then Jen Pollock Michel’s first book—Teach Us To Want: Longing, Ambition & The Life of Faith—certainly makes the cut. Michel’s goal—to establish and explore a theology of desire—is decidedly academic. And yet, her ability to weave personal anecdote with scripture and the depth and breadth of... Read more
“In the early church Christians used pebbles and stones to help them “pray without ceasing.” That practice evolved into using knotted rope, and later, strings of beads, which is how the rosary came into being. That happened long before there were “Catholics” and “Protestants.” Had we lived back in the Middle Ages we would have all been using beads in prayer.” — Kristen Vincent, author, A Bead and a Prayer This month at the Patheos Book Club, we’re featuring a... Read more
“I realized that I was not the CEO, our values were our CEO. We made a list of our values and when we made a decision, we evaluated them against not my opinion but our values. As a result we made many decisions that I might not have made on my own and we had full management support for them. Our values, which were based on the 9 Laws described in my book, led us to become an industry leader.”... Read more
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