Theoblogy
File under “A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words”: Read more
File under “A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words”: Read more
Jonathan Fitzgerald is one of my favorite bloggers. When you read his posts at Patrol, it’s like you can see him leaving evangelicalism before your very eyes. And now he’s written a book, Not Your Mother’s Morals: How the New Sincerity is Changing Pop Culture for the Better. I endorsed it, cuz it’s good. You should buy it, and read it. Just to give you a taste, here’s an excerpt: I realized just how universal the whole “spiritual, but not religious” thing... Read more
Awadhesh Kumar Singh supplied this week’s Question: Why could Jesus not show the miracle of being saved from being crucified? Surely, he expected to be saved, as his last words show: “God, God, why have you forsaken me?” As usual, the commentary was great — although I think that some of you formerly Christian commenters have pretty much run out the string on your lines of argument. Saying we don’t need a crucifixion or a resurrection may be satisfying to you, but... Read more
Last night, I ended up at the Lady Gaga concert at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Friends of ours — friends in their 60’s, I might add — couldn’t use their tickets and gave them to Courtney and me. I didn’t go into the Gaga show as a “Little Monster,” or even as a particular fan. I, of course, had heard her music, because it is ubiquitous. And I don’t hate pop music. What I did know about... Read more
Last semester, I taught a class at a local seminary. The class met on Thursday nights. After the first week of class, I received a one-line email from the dean, asking me how everything was going. And a month after the class, I received another email asking how everything went. Other than that, I didn’t hear from anyone on the faculty. I didn’t meet anyone on the faculty; I wasn’t even greeted by anyone. I did receive emails from the... Read more
After a couple years of planning, Mesa is launching this fall. From 2013-2017, there will be global gatherings of emergent leaders to meet, pray, discuss, and fellowship around the themes of emerging Christianity. The first gathering is in Bangkok in October. Here’s the intro to the collective: Several parallel conversations, networks, and movements have been emerging among committed Christians over the last century – in Africa and Latin America, in Asia and Europe, in the Pacific Islands and the Americas. These... Read more
One of the things about being divorced and remarried is that everyone knows that I’ve had sex with more than one partner. No one seems to hold it against me because I was married before, and I’m married now. I get a pass. Recently, Sarah Bessey wrote a powerful post at Deeper Story, “I Am Damaged Goods“: He passed around a cup of water and asked us all to spit into it. Some boys horked and honked their worst into... Read more
As we approach Ash Wednesday and Lent next week, we’ve got a crucifixion question from Awadhesh Kumar Singh, Why could Jesus not show the miracle of being saved from being crucified? Surely, he expected to be saved, as his last words show: “God, God, why have you forsaken me?” Please give a crack at an answer, and I’ll post my response on Friday. You can see the entire series here. Read more
Last week, Stephen asked a great question. Here’s the punchline: Progressives then have a problem with the God of most traditional and especially Christian formulations – especially with retribution, punishments, curses, condemnations, as well as problems with the unfairness of the treatment of women, slaves, and other outsiders. This gives us a huge problem with the bible and the god it describes, which forces us to re-think everything. Thus our problem speaking much, or coherently about God. Where do we go... Read more
I didn’t stay awake for the end of the Super Bowl last night — still battling jetlag a week after returning from Kuala Lumpur. But I got up early and watched a bit of SportsCenter while the espresso pot came to a boil. There was Michael Phelps, standing on the field after the game, framed by confetti. He told the reporter that the Ravens’ victory was more emotional for him than any of his 22 Olympic medals — weird. When... Read more
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