While traveling this week, I read Elizabeth Kolbert’s Sixth Extinction. The book, in my opinion, is worth the hype and Pulitzer that it has collected. It’s got me thinking about a blogpost I wrote for my seminary in the early days of the pandemic. I’m reposting it here as an invitation to contemplate grief and hope. I also want to note, as I approach a year of The Diagonal Way, and 100 posts on this page graciously hosted by the... Read more
This summer I’ve continued my life-long submersion into Russian theological and intellectual culture. I’ve written previously of the theological disaster that is Patriarch Kirill’s current political stance. A new book by Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, alongside a no longer new book by Lesley Chamberlain, has given me deeper insight into this disaster. Especially as it relates to the U.S.-based ROCOR, or the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia. Orthodoxy in Appalachia The Riccardi-Swartz book is currently stirring up controversy in the American Orthodox... Read more
The prophets of Judah and Israel are often seen as vertical in their messaging. The hand of God, that is, reaches straight down from heaven with a burning coal and they suddenly have something to say. Despite being just a boy (Jeremiah), a man of unclean lips (Isaiah), or a shepherd and sycamore arborist from far away (Amos), God puts words in their mouths. I don’t think this is the full story for any of the prophets. But it is... Read more
Those who have been reading this column will be aware of my summer adventures in the U.K. With the help of a grant for seminary professors like us, my wife and I had the privilege of wandering from the southern edge of England all the way to Edinburgh, Scotland. On the train north I alternated between watching the landscape and, just because I’m a dreamy romantic, reading about Francis Osbaldistone’s journey through the same lands in Sir Walter Scott’s Rob... Read more
This past week I’ve been homemaking. Cooking, hosting family. Saying my prayers while watching the barn swallows on my patio hatch. Sitting and reading while my daughter rides her horse at the nearby farm. Rather than my usual meditation on text or idea, I’ll depart into the (for me, less safe!) literary landscape. Here are two poems. The second I imagine as a hymn, though I suppose musicians (I am not one) would need to play around with the lines... Read more
A Patheos reader sends us this question. When it comes to faith, the ground level question is often the one to ask. Christians gather to baptize in Jesus’ name and preach from the Bible about his life, death, and resurrection. We celebrate his birth by pulling out all the stops. We attempt to live lives that, through integrity and generosity, are faithful to his. But why is Jesus of Nazareth so important? Can Anything Good Come from Nazareth? Consider the... Read more
This morning our gospel points us to what I’m going to call apocalyptic hospitality. My message is this: you are a unique invitation into the divine life that God has sent out into the world. Slowing Down to See In Luke 10, Jesus is sending out 70 Apostles like harvesters into the fields, but also like sheep among wolves. To get a sense of what he’s up to here, let’s back up a few verses into ch 9. The mood... Read more
Long plane rides provide guilt free screen time. Especially headed west when, the way I see it, one’s only job is to stay awake and fight the coming jet lag. It’s just self care, really. Which is how, in between Ghostbusters and Licorice Pizza, I found myself absorbed in the life of Tammy Faye Bakker and the mysteries of the prosperity gospel. The Bakker Story Some of you won’t know, or will only vaguely recognize the name. Tammy Faye and her... Read more
My travels this month gave me the unique opportunity to discuss tragedy, courage, and Shakespeare’s King Lear with a group of UK army chaplains. I called my talk “Lear’s Shadow.” The entire experience was unlike any other I’ve had in my life. Tragedy at the Chapel The invitation came from Fr. Deiniol Morgan, a chaplain based in London who, among many other responsibilities, organizes study days for his colleagues. His energy for building connections between art, theology, and the hard work... Read more
Last week I had the pleasure of talking theology, literature, and ecology with Rowan Williams. I’ll admit feeling a bit like a kid from the Indiana woods as I waited for him at the pub inside King’s Cross railway station. I’d asked the servers to give me a table in a quiet section. They’d taken me to a perfect spot in a room in the back, but then I worried about how Williams might find me. “Do you know what... Read more
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