My wife and I love cooking meals together. We also enjoy watching cooking shows. One of our favorites is the “Chopped” Kitchen in which four contestants are eliminated – or “chopped” — as they attempt to use “mystery baskets,” preparing an appetizer, main course, and dessert. The drama in the show arises from the outsized personality of the contestants, the unpredictable nature of the items in the baskets that they work with, the time constraints that pressure even the best... Read more
In class a subject surfaced that I don’t recall ever hearing discussed in seminary: “Should pastors be their parishioners’ ‘friend?’” The conversation began when one of my students noted that a member of his church had decided that, after some deliberation, “they could be friends.” My student noted that he understood that his parishioner meant this as a form of affirmation, but he also noted that it made him uncomfortable. Why, exactly, he wasn’t sure. The class offered a number... Read more
From the vantage point of exegetical scholarship, one of the most troubling phrases in the debate with creationists is the phrase, “biblical creation.” It appears over and over again in the literature on the subject, as the articles here at “Righting America” attest, and if you Google “biblical creation” in just .57 seconds the internet coughs up 20,900,000 results. The phrase, of course, is shorthand for an approach to Genesis 1 that reads the poetry of the book as a... Read more
“We want a king!” “Why?” “Because our neighbors have kings. Kings are cool. They do stuff for their people. Best of all, they make us feel important. If he looks like a God, then maybe we are gods.” “But I brought you out of Egypt. Saved you from slavery and gave you your own land.” “We can’t see you. It makes us feel unimportant and a lot less godly to admit that we depend upon you. It’s embarrassing, really. Our... Read more
It’s election day. By tomorrow one of the most rancorous elections in living memory — which is different from historical memory — will finally be over. I would like to hope that this day would signal an end to several trends that have become increasingly common: (1) An unwillingness to listen to one another – to process what is being said, to ask questions that invite further conversation and understanding (2) The tendency to attribute the worst of motives... Read more
In a recent interview with Treer Hardy and Jason Michelli who steer the “Crackers and Grape Juice” podcast, I found myself clarifying some of my views on pastoral responsibility and the up-coming election. It will be tempting for clergy of all kinds to express their opinion on specific candidates and advocate for one of them this year. (I also have dear friends who will strongly disagree with me on this.) But, IRS regulations aside, I think it’s a mistake to... Read more
In a world of people that are regularly divided into “the glass is half empty” and “the glass is half full” kinds of people, I tend to be one of those people who is inclined to say, “Look, it’s 4 ounces, no matter how you look at it.” Part of that reaction is professional socialization. Academics are charged with thinking hard about a subject and then producing the evidence for the case that they want to make. (Or that’s... Read more
Some years ago in a fairly unconstructive series of conversations about a relationship in which I was playing the part of “The Good Co-dependent” — not to be confused with “The Good Samaritan” — my spiritual director had some fairly direct advice: “Get off the cross, we need the wood.” Over the years, I’ve found the wisdom of that advice repeatedly useful, in my own life and in spiritual direction with others. For those who are in “helping professions,” the... Read more
Earlier this month the Public Religion Research Institute released new statistics that chronicle the demographic shifts in religious affiliation. The one group that has grown exponentially is the so-called “Nones,” or religiously unaffiliated. The unaffiliated now represent 25% of the country, up over 10% of their numbers in the 1990s. More troubling for churches are two other findings: One is that the percentage of young American “Nones” (39% of those ages 18 to 29) is far larger than that of... Read more
The German notion of Zeitgeist or “spirit of the times” was first promulgated as an alternative to the theory that great men and women are the ones who shape our history. There are difficulties with both theories, of course. On the one hand, influential figures can make a dramatic difference. Witness, for example, the sweeping impact of people like Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, or Eleanor Roosevelt. It is also true, however, that talented people are themselves a product of their... Read more
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