All week, I’ll be posting about Lauren Winner’s new book, Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis. I’m doing so because I think it’s an important book, and I hope that you all read it. Lauren is a self-confessed introvert, but that doesn’t meant that she doesn’t experience deep and terrifying loneliness, a topic she addresses forthrightly in Still: I used to say to Ruth, in all those tortured moments before I left my husband, that what I feared most was... Read more
Back in 2007 — the last time that Mitt Romney ran for president, I wrote this for the God’s Politics blog. A friend emailed and asked me to repost it: OK, I’ll be honest. I’m ambivalent about Mormonism, and, be it Mitt Romney or any other Mormon, I’m ambivalent about the idea of voting for a Mormon. And I’ll bet that a lot of Christians, if they’re honest too, agree with me. My ambivalence stems, I suppose, from my ignorance.... Read more
All week, I’ll be posting about Lauren Winner’s new book, Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis. I’m doing so because I think it’s an important book, and I hope that you all read it. Although Lauren denies it at the beginning of the book, this is a memoir. It is the sequel to Girl Meets God. And it is, like that book, funny, literary, and honest honest honest. It’s that honesty that is most striking to me in the book... Read more
This is a sponsored post and part of the Patheos Book Club. Check out the Book Club for more posts on this book and for responses from the editors. I find that nothing is quite as humbling as a garage sale. At our neighbors’ request last fall, we hosted a garage sale, and, as I have after every garage sale I’ve ever held, I vowed to never hold another one. We spent about $20 on signs. And we made…$27. While... Read more
A cool new tool uses info from Amazon to connect a book you like with dozens of others. HT: Bob Carlton Read more
At Fuller Seminary’s Burner Blog, there are a pair of posts up about how that school (with which I am affiliated as an adjunct professor) is dealing with the issue of homosexuality in the church. In the first post, the worst-kept-secret at Fuller is revealed: former provost and emeritus professor Sherwood Lingenfelter has a gay daughter. Lingenfelter writes, Initially, this was distressing and even disheartening news to me. This is not what I had imagined for my daughter, and yet... Read more
Sects that keep secrets — think Scientology — have a tough time in the Internet Age. That seems to be happening in the LDS Church, where some studies show that young people are leaving in droves, upon learning of the idiosyncrasies of Joseph Smith, along with other oddities: A religious studies class late last year at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, was unusual for two reasons. The small group of students, faculty and faithful there to hear Mormon Elder Marlin... Read more
I’m back from a brief digital sabbath, and my first pixels must be in gratitude to Scot Miller for so ably guest posting in my absence. Based on the comments, many of you resonated with Scot’s posts, particularly the one on his journey to progressive Christianity. I’ve given Scot an open invitation to guest post whenever he wants, so keep an eye out for him (and when you see his thoughtful comments, encourage him to expand them into full-fledged... Read more
Amazon has dropped the price of my book, The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier to its lowest price (in paperback) ever – $8.51. Now’s the time to buy! Read more
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