Category: Challenges
The Myth of a Judeo-Christian Tradition
In the United States, it’s common to hear frequent and impassioned references to the concept of ‘Judeo-Christian’ culture, ethics, or values. Any cursory review of American media wil... Read More
What is darkness? What is light?
Last Sunday, March 30, Dean of Duke Chapel Luke Powery preached a sermon titled “Seeing in the Dark.” In it he described the way Christian scriptures tend to associate darkness with struggle, blin... Read More
Why Church?
For a class I am currently taking about young adult ministry, we were given the simple prompt, “Why church?” Below is my response to this simple yet profound question of whether or not the Churc... Read More
Unity Through Diversity
“What options are there for those who want to recognize that there is a higher power but don’t fit into organized religion?” This question is common in the circles I travel. Many of my friends a... Read More
Learning from Others – Intra-Faith Engagement
I was recently at a talk at Yale, where the Chaplain’s Office hosted a tea for me with students. It was a wonderful opportunity to speak to a rising generation of young folks who are interested in r... Read More
Seventy Times Seven, or Why Religious Communities Need to Get Smarter About Mental Health, Right Freaking Now.
We are all humans. All humans make mistakes. Mistakes can (and should, in my opinion) be forgiven. That being said, this does not give us license to keep on making these mistakes. There is part of a l... Read More
An Argument for Santa Claus
I once wrote a paper on why I believe in Santa Claus. The argument, in a nutshell, went something like this: human life consists not just of physicality but of that for which we live. If this is true,... Read More
Who is my neighbor? (Syria edition)
As the conflicts in Syria and Iraq have become increasingly sectarian over the last few years, feeding off one another’s dynamics and international rhetoric and involvement, stories about the pe... Read More