Category Archives: Relationships
Lent for the Rest of Us
Having just eaten my second paczki before 10:00am, I realized it is time for me to start thinking about Lent. Today is Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday — the day before the season of Lent. (Also known as Mardi Gras). This day is generally a day of indulgence before turning to repentance. This historically has been a time when you would clear out the flour and sugar and all the things that would be forbidden to eat during Lent by making paczkis, pancakes and other yummies. It is a day to indulge in food and drink because one wouldn’t during the next 40 or so days during the Lenten season. Continue reading
Filed under Practices, Relationships, Theology
Is God a Person?
Guest post by Richard Rohr:
To get a proper divine conversation started and going, we all have to think of God as a “person” somehow. Otherwise there is no reciprocity, mutuality, give and take, no ONE to love, no “I and Thou”. Humans only know how to relate to other persons initially. But if you stay there too long, you pay a big price… Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy, Relationships, Theology
Pub Theology Recap January 5
Great night at the pub last night. Nine of us grabbed a pint and settled in for a good discussion, huddled around the table as if seeking respite from the snow drifts just outside.
A. showed up, who promptly styled himself ‘kinda the local guru.’ Then quickly thought better of it and shifted to ‘kinda the local guy.’ He’d been reading up on the history of Islam and… Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy, Pub Theology, Relationships, Theology
Confessions of a Postconservative
In a 1974 book, Jack Rogers, then a Fuller Theological Seminary professor, notes:
“Conservative” is a good word. It marks continuity with the past, preservation of enduring values, holding on to what has been proven with time. In this sense I am still a conservative. I want to “hold fast to what is good” (1 Thess 5:21). There is another sense in which the word “conservative” is used. The dictionary defines “conservative” as “tending to favor the preservation of the existing order and to regard proposals for change with distrust.” Being conservative in that sense leads to conservatism. That is the sense of being conservative which has marked much of my past. That is the sense of being conservative which I want to put behind me. Continue reading
Why I’m Joining the Occupation
I’m in, and would encourage others to join the occupation. Not as a representative of your church or denomination, but as a human being, who is there to contribute and to learn.
By Brian McLaren
I never would have chosen the name “Occupy” to brand a movement. “The 99 Percent Movement” works a lot better for me. But I’m glad I didn’t get to choose, because I notice the term “occupy” is kind of growing on me.
What I don’t like about it: it sounds aggressive, like the (to me) ugly and unacceptable language of “taking back the country.” For a movement to avoid violent actions, it needs to avoid violent rhetoric as well, as Jesus made clear in the Sermon on the Moun Continue reading
Filed under Culture, Economy, Politics, Relationships, Theology
The Intimidating Task of Bible Study, Part 4
(Fourth and final in a series of posts taken from Wes Howard-Brook’s introduction to his commentary on the Gospel of John, Becoming Children of God: Read the first post here. The whole introduction to this book, of which these posts are a small part, is terrific, and probably worth the price of the book alone. This is the last post I am making from the intro, so enjoy!)
Still another aspect of my own reading perspective is important to note at the outset. I am not a member of the academic guild of Bible scholars. My reading of the Bible generally, and the fourth gospel in particular, comes not out of the context of university conversation – whether secular or theological – but rather from the perspective of radical discipleship. That is, I am interested in the biblical texts not simply as objects of study and intellectual interest but as paradigmatic tales of God’s relationship to our ancestors and to us. Continue reading
Filed under Readings, Relationships, The Text, Theology
The Intimidating Task of Bible Study, Part 3
One of the curiously powerful aspects of the gospels in general that stands out for readers familiar at all with other ancient literature is the social context in which their stories are told. Whereas almost all other national epics and myths speak of the important events and struggles in the lives of gods, kings, or other nobles, the gospels’ concern is almost exclusively with the lives of the poor and marginalized. Continue reading
Is Discrimination OK?
When is it legitimate to discriminate, if ever? Consider the following two issues, the first via the Grand Rapids Press on atheism, the second via the Traverse City Record-Eagle on homosexuality. Post your comments below. Continue reading
Filed under Culture, Politics, Relationships
The Intimidating Task of Bible Study, Part 1
Attempting to read a biblical text challenges us in ways that quickly threaten to sink us in a quicksand of questions. Which translation is “best” if we don’t read ancient Greek or Hebrew? And even if we try to learn something about these long-dead languages, how do we move forward in our language to talk about the text?
Beginning to consider these questions and the infinite corollaries that cascade from them can lead to several responses among prospective biblical readers. Continue reading
Filed under Culture, Readings, Relationships, The Text, Theology
The Intimidating Task of Bible Study, Part 2
If we choose to accept this life-changing invitation, how do we start? How do we know that the path we take is not simply a trail that loops back to Egypt ends in a cul de sac in the desert? If we journey alone, we indeed run a high risk of picking a futile road to nowhere or, worse, to a place of great danger. Continue reading →
1 Comment
Filed under Culture, Readings, Relationships, The Text, Theology
Tagged as bible, Commentary, Context, Gospel of John, interpretation, scripture, Wes Howard-Brook