Month: October 2011
Indian Bishops Urge Larger Families, Will the Vatican Respond?
Last week the press picked up a story about a move by an Indian Catholic bishops’ council to promote larger families. The story is both too intriguing not to generate a response and too vague to... Read More
Dare to Ask Questions: The (Occasionally Intrusive) Ministry of Curiosity
The story of Jesus healing a lame man in John 5:1-15 is repeated in church sanctuaries throughout the world. The setup reads like so many others: Jesus comes across an invalid. I would think Jesus, wh... Read More
An Essay Concerning Theistic Understanding: Reflections on Nietzsche’s Death of God by Matthew Fisher
I take Nietzsche’s observation regarding the death of God in The Gay Science (1882) to be pragmatic in character: for all intents and purposes, God is no longer a necessary postulate needed to accou... Read More
Landscapes or Sandscapes? New Atheist Grounds for Morality
Atheist lauders and pursuers of truth, integrity, and beauty can be none too careful. They might provoke or experience longings for the fountain of all Beauty, Goodness, and Truth. ... Read More
Flesh and Bone: Honoring Ancestors
When you see images of bones, do you shudder? One of the reasons people tell me they fear Vodou is “all the bones,” images of the skeletal Spirits of the Dead. Why do we fear the dead? Why is the ... Read More
Hunger Games
Article first published as Hunger Games on Blogcritics. In Suzanne Collins’ trilogy The Hunger Games, youth are forced to fight to the death as entertainment for the ruling elite. While the titl... Read More
Vote for Jesus! On politics, pulpits, and public theology
Politicking. It’s a dangerous game to play. The political arena is a nasty space in the quest for votes and power, with much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Backbiting, name calling, cutting an... Read More
The Value of Discomfort: Why I won’t make peace with my Parsha
I have encountered many mitigating interpretations of the most painful texts in my Torah portion (Lev. 18:22 and 20:13), some more rigorous and thoughtful than others. However, academically and religi... Read More