Beauty and the Beast for Unfundamentalist Parenting

Last updated on: March 22, 2017 at 10:44 am By Cindy Brandt

Image from Disney Like millions of others, I joined adoring fans at the theaters the first chance I could to watch Disney’s remake of the classic, Beauty and the Beast. I loved ‘almost’ everything about it—the cast was solid—I was delighted to see beloved actors like Ian McClellan, Ewan McGregor, and Emma Thompson appear as they transformed from their household item characters. The music was spectacular, with amazing vocals from Audre MacDonald launching the movie with a resounding debut to... Read more

A Lesbian Mother and the Canaanite Woman

Last updated on: March 20, 2017 at 9:01 pm By Guest Contributor

Image provided by guest contributor, Candice Czubernat We are a mommy-momma household. And we have twins. Everywhere we go, people talk to us. Questions that quickly feel vulnerable and exposing to me. There’s usually a progression to the questions; names of the babies, ages and that’s about where the conversation takes a turn into the land of, “do I come out, or do I stay in the closet”? The questions come inquiring about my husband; does my husband help with... Read more

Kids & Theology Q&R: Prayer, Fundamentalism, & Conflict Management

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 4:45 pm By Anna Skates

Below are some written responses to questions asked in a Q&R session last fall at GRACEPOINTE Church in Franklin, TN. A link to the full video is provided at the end of this article. Question 1: What do you do when prayers and religious rituals become overdone and meaningless for you but your kids still ask for them? Here’s what NOT to do – don’t shut their spiritual inquiry down. (This will be a theme repeated in this post). Now, ritual... Read more

Unfundamentalist Resources for Babies/Toddlers

Last updated on: March 16, 2017 at 7:30 pm By Guest Contributor

I am a minister and educator and although I am passionate about religious education, the person I was most afraid to teach was my daughter. I was afraid of emphasizing the wrong things. Of passing on fundamentalism. Of indoctrinating her to a certain way of thinking. Most of all, I was unsure about how to parent from a place of spiritual uncertainty. How do I teach her about faith when, many times, I’m not even sure what I think?! In my pursuit... Read more

Why ‘Biblical’ Parenting is Horrible Parenting

Last updated on: May 16, 2017 at 8:12 pm By Cindy Brandt

Image: Pixabay I posed a question in my parenting Facebook Group, “If Jesus had children, would he have spanked them?” The overwhelming immediate responses were, “no,” “heck no,” “if he did, I could not follow him anymore.” Understandably, because it is near impossible to reconcile the loving, peace-making, power-giving image of Jesus with one who could intentionally hurt a child. But someone brought up a fair point that during the time and context of Jesus, corporal punishment of children was... Read more

Revisiting Adam and Eve

Last updated on: March 13, 2017 at 6:40 pm By Ryan Stollar

“The snake was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. The snake spoke to the woman and said, ‘Woman, did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ The woman answered the snake, ‘No, we can eat fruit from the trees in the garden. But there is one tree we must not eat from. God told us, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that... Read more

The Shack, the Movie – Part 2

Last updated on: March 10, 2017 at 1:53 pm By Guest Contributor

This is part 2 of exploring Unfundamentalist Parenting in The Shack, the Movie. You can read part 1 here. *Spoiler Alert* A second element of unfundamentalist parenting in The Shack is the appearance of Papa as a woman—Octavia Spencer portrays God as a very huggable black Momma. Why does Papa appear as a woman of color? Was the author just being cute and controversial? Was he trying to be progressive and inclusive? Far more than that. In the story, Papa reveals... Read more

Every Christian is a Universalist at Baby Funerals

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 10:50 am By Cindy Brandt

Image: Pixabay I would argue, practically speaking (perhaps not theologically), every Christian is a universalist at a funeral because I’ve never heard an eulogy describing how the person in the casket is burning in hell to the mourners. But especially at a child’s funeral—no one could fathom that a child who meets their tragic demise could belong anywhere but in the loving arms of our God. Which begs the question my friend Ferg Breen asks: at what point does... Read more

Unfundamentalist Parenting in The Shack – Part 1

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 10:39 am By Guest Contributor

The world is abuzz with the release of The Shack movie, based on the novel by W. Paul Young. I want to reflect briefly on the importance of The Shack as we consider the task of parenting children in ways alternative to the moralism, legalism and harshness of so much traditional Christian parenting. *Spoiler Alert* To begin, the backstory of The Shack is Paul Young’s own life. No, he did not literally have a child who was abducted, abused... Read more

Children as Theological Concern and Hermeneutic

Last updated on: March 3, 2017 at 5:58 pm By Ryan Stollar

When we think about theology and hermeneutics, we usually think about theoretical matters. For example: what is the nature of sin? Is sin original? Are we born as the perfect, unbroken images of God Almighty, as Pelagians suggest? Or are the Calvinists right when they argue for universal depravity? These may seem, at first glance, purely academic questions. But all sorts of practical matters hinge on how one answers them. If one believes in universal depravity, for example, that will... Read more