2015-03-27T21:39:32-05:00

Last updated on: March 27, 2015 at 9:39 pm   By

Authorities and investigators are trying to figure out what caused Germanwings’ co-pilot Andreas Lubitz to lock the door and push a button, sending the plane on a deliberate course toward destruction. There is now evidence of a diagnosed illness that led a doctor to declare him unfit to fly (a casual interpreter imagines this to be a serious mental illness). The investigators are not currently treating this tragedy as “terrorism,” but nor can they call it simply “suicide,” since, as... Read more

2015-03-26T11:47:55-05:00

Last updated on: March 26, 2015 at 11:47 am   By

Have you been trying to give up anger for lent? How’s it working for you? If you’ve been trying to get rid of your anger by venting, then odds are: not so well. Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, authors of Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me), give the example of the “Damn it Doll,” a cathartic method suggested on the internet for getting rid of your anger and frustration. The source suggests that, after putting your Doll together, just... Read more

2015-03-24T17:29:49-05:00

Last updated on: March 24, 2015 at 5:29 pm   By

In a few minutes, I will join others here at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in celebrating the 35th anniversary of the life, death, and witness of Oscar Romero, a bishop in the Catholic Church of El Salvador who was assassinated while officiating Mass. Romero once famously declared that “if they kill me, I will be resurrected in the Salvadorian people.” In honor of this occasion, I will post below a small selection from an essay by Jon... Read more

2015-03-18T15:56:41-05:00

Last updated on: March 18, 2015 at 3:56 pm   By

One of my all-time favorite Kierkegaard texts is Practice in Christianity, published in 1848 (along with a host of other works in a very productive year). Kierkegaard thought very highly of the work: “Without a doubt it is the most perfect and truest thing I have written; but it must not be interpreted as if I am supposed to be the one who almost censoriously bursts in upon everybody else–no, I must be brought up myself.” In the work he... Read more

2015-03-18T09:53:01-05:00

Last updated on: March 18, 2015 at 9:53 am   By

This post is a day late, but not a dollar short. Yesterday, Chicago artist and gallerist Dan Addington (who also happens to be my brother-in-law), posted an image on Facebook of one of his early paintings inspired by his many visits to Ireland. He also posted the following reflection about it, which I wanted to share with you (with Dan’s permission, of course): My first trip to Ireland way back in ’96 was very influential and powerful. Just before I... Read more

2015-03-16T15:51:18-05:00

Last updated on: March 16, 2015 at 3:51 pm   By

Over at the Black, White and Grey blog, they refer to a recent study which shows that, in George Yancy’s words, “researchers found that both conservatives and progressives tend to have less faith in scientific findings that go against their political presuppositions.” I’ve been recently reading the provocative and entertaining book, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), by social psychologists Carol Tarvis and Elliot Aronson. The book unfolds a not-so-pretty-picture of the remarkably ingenious and universally innate ways that... Read more

2015-03-11T14:08:08-05:00

Last updated on: March 11, 2015 at 2:08 pm   By

When I am asked by people who are curious about Kierkegaard which text they should start with, my answer varies. For Christians who are interested in exploring the theological angle of the Great Dane, I will often suggest they begin with the two discourses For Self-Examination and Judge for Yourself!. These two discourses were published in 1851; they mark the end of what has come to be called Kierkegaard’s “second authorship.” This was a furious period of productivity which began... Read more

2015-03-09T15:41:26-05:00

Last updated on: March 9, 2015 at 3:41 pm   By

My Missional Theology class is working through Cornel West and Christa Buschendorf’s recent book, Black Prophetic Fire. When you go looking for “missional theology” and “missional church” texts, under those subject headings, you find that most material is written by white males. Once you leave the moniker behind, you can find plenty of material that is deeply and thoroughly missional in nature (and much of it with even more passion and a sense of greater, more desperate concerns for justice!),... Read more

2015-03-05T15:18:05-05:00

Last updated on: March 5, 2015 at 3:18 pm   By

As some of you know, I’ve been reading the fascinating psychologist Ernest Becker. He believed that culture is comprised in large part of various kinds of “hero systems,”pathways or methods through which people can repress, deny, or (much better) deal in healthy ways with their inner anxieties that come from being human. In particular, those anxieties are related to the awareness of their mortality. There are both good and bad hero systems, but Becker recognized that they are necessary and... Read more

2015-03-03T17:15:02-05:00

Last updated on: March 3, 2015 at 5:15 pm   By

As much of the American church continues to decline (especially mainline Protestantism and now also conservative (white) evangelicalism) and as the “nones” and “dones” increase by leaps and bounds, particularly among millennials, major questions loom for institutions in these circles. Fewer people means less money, less money means fewer jobs, fewer jobs means declining human resources (and therefore less creativity and energy) to “right the ship.” Many seminaries are experiencing the implications of the dramatically changing landscape. Some are trying... Read more

Follow Us!
Browse Our Archives
TRENDING AT PATHEOS Progressive Christian
Stop, collaborate, and listen
Our Dependency on Each Another
Scholarship is Not Merely Skepticism
There are Two Kinds of People . ....
Millions of people dead. On purpose.
Caring for Those Outside the Tribe
view all Progressive Christian blogs