Chaplains and Parish Clergy: Covid-19 has Just Declared Your Ministry Non-Essential

Last updated on: May 5, 2020 at 11:08 am By Frederick Schmidt

Well, strictly speaking, Covid-19 was the presenting issue. Your role was changed by something called “Hospital Incident Command.” Hospital Incident Command HIC is a “standardized approach to managing complex incidents” that was developed in the 1970s in California to give hospitals “a framework on which to build a response quickly and scale it” to fit the demands made on hospitals by large scale emergencies, including the wildland fires in California that originally prompted its development. After the 9/11, those protocols... Read more

Things not lost to Covid-19: Four Ways the Church can Respond

Last updated on: April 10, 2020 at 12:32 pm By Frederick Schmidt

There are already countless articles that explore what we are learning about the life of the church in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis. There will be many more. Some of the lessons we have learned will be harder to absorb and may go unnoticed. They are also lessons that we didn’t need a crisis to learn. One of those lessons goes straight to the heart of what it means to be the body of Christ: Church has always... Read more

Playing God’s Infinite Game in the Age of Covid-19

Last updated on: March 25, 2020 at 8:23 am By Frederick Schmidt

Three weeks ago, in the first of three articles I outlined what I believe to be a way to move beyond the zero-sum games that shape public discourse. Relying on game theory, I pointed out that while there are viable ways of talking about an infinite game that does not presuppose a belief in God, for Christians the best way forward is to nurture what we might call “God’s infinite game.” That game is theocentric and is predicated on the... Read more

Playing God’s Infinite Game in an Age of Rage: Where the Game is Played

Last updated on: March 3, 2020 at 7:00 am By Frederick Schmidt

Last week, in the first of three articles I outlined what I believe to be a way to move beyond the zero-sum games that shape public discourse. Relying on game theory, I pointed out that while there are viable ways of talking about an infinite game that does not presuppose a belief in God, for Christians the best way forward is to nurture what we might call “God’s infinite game.” That game is theocentric and is predicated on the... Read more

Playing God’s Infinite Game in an Age of Rage

Last updated on: February 21, 2020 at 11:14 am By Frederick Schmidt

Recently it was revealed that Yale will no longer offer its widely popular, “Introduction to Art History: Renaissance to the Present”. Yale’s “celebrated” professor of art, Vincent Scully has taught it “for decades”, and – perhaps, predictably — the chair of the department argued that the focus of the course was “too white, too European, too male” and “too ‘problematic’”. So, it is being shelved in favor of a class with a “global” theme, that will take into account... Read more

The Slowing Rise of Nones: 4 Ways for the Church to Respond

Last updated on: February 12, 2020 at 9:50 am By Frederick Schmidt

Recent research indicates that the number of “Nones” – those without religious affiliation – may be leveling off in the United States. For the last quarter of a century, the Nones have been growing in number, and most observers believed that the trend would continue into the foreseeable future. But two studies suggest that may not be the case. Yonat Shimron reports: The initial suggestion that the decline of religious affiliation seems to be slowing came from political scientist Melissa... Read more

The Monster God of Penal Substitutionary Atonement

Last updated on: February 4, 2020 at 10:27 am By Frederick Schmidt

Preface Penal Substitutionary Atonement is not a phrase that is widely known, but the storyline that goes along with that theology is, and there are substantial problems with it. One, it purports to be a theory of Atonement, when – in fact – the multiple biblical and traditional pictures of atonement are better described as windows into atonement or as metaphors that attempt to explain a religious and spiritual reality that is beyond our grasp. A second problem with Penal... Read more

Judging Kobe

Last updated on: January 27, 2020 at 8:47 pm By Frederick Schmidt

The death of Kobe Bryant triggered a public outpouring of grief. Inevitably, it also triggered a series of articles and posts that highlighted his failings. I was struck by the way in which the second set of articles often negated Bryant’s accomplishments and even swept aside grief over his death and that of his daughter. But I was not surprised. Of late, an endless number of articles and posts subject every prominent figure, generation, region, nation, and community — past... Read more

Resisting the Temptation to Lead by Fear

Last updated on: January 25, 2020 at 3:52 pm By Frederick Schmidt

It’s Saturday morning and, as weather fronts collide, our area is being affected by high winds, thunderstorms, and a series of tornado warnings. Storms are forming west of us and, unfortunately, some communities will be damaged by high winds and, potentially, by tornadic activity. But the language that is used by the reporters is telling: “Red alert!” “You folks in Cadiz are going to get hit hard!” One wonders when meteorologists will begin screaming, “Battle stations, rig for collision.” As... Read more

Why I am not a political priest…

Last updated on: January 14, 2020 at 6:53 pm By Frederick Schmidt

I have a Facebook page, in fact, I have three of them. I have an Instagram account, a Twitter feed, and a Linked In profile. I preach and I teach, but I normally avoid political posts, and in the ones that I do post, I attempt to highlight the complexities that we face as a nation. And I never, ever publicly advocate for a specific candidate or political party. I do this for a variety of reasons: One, although I... Read more