tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281570442011-10-08T08:17:17.420-04:00A place for thoughtful people of whatever faith, or no faith at all, to discuss matter Christian and political. No foul language and no personal attacks, on me or others. My hope is for lively discussion from which all can learn.Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.comBlogger1381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1160014443889999962006-10-04T21:57:00.000-04:002006-10-04T22:14:03.903-04:00

Among my wife's many wonderful qualities, she is extremely wise. Tonight at a church function, as we spoke about our feelings concerning the events of the past week - three school shootings, one attempted shooting, and the unfolding events in Washington - she read Psalm 46. I found it so fitting because the author of this Psalm wrote about the various troubles and horrors of life, and he

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com117tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1159982344040297572006-10-04T13:05:00.000-04:002006-10-04T13:19:04.073-04:00

There have been four REPUBLICAN Congressmen who have been forced to resign because of scandals, two of whom are in federal prison. The REPUBLICAN majority leader of the Senate in under investigation for improper stock trading, as well as recently saying that we need to bow to the inevitable and allow the Taliban into the Afghan government (I thought it was the Democrats who were soft on terror?)

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1159903937737446522006-10-03T15:22:00.000-04:002006-10-03T15:32:17.766-04:00

First, the scandal is only peripherally about the conduct of Mark Foley. He is gone, will not be coming back, and may spend quite some time in prison once he gets out of rehab (if, in fact, that is where he is since no one actually knows where he is). The real scandal is the lack of action by the House leadership to do anything - up to and including getting Mark Foley away from teenage boys as

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1159827954430987072006-10-02T18:07:00.000-04:002006-10-02T18:25:54.446-04:00

The first review article in the most recent New York Review of Books features Frank Rich reviewing a spate of books by Democratic politicians and commentators offering policy prescriptions for the near future. Rich is, on the whole dismissive, but Rich misses the larger point because he does what he criticizes one of the authors, Peter Beinart, for doing - he ignores the fact that what he calls

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1159718815100143222006-10-01T11:46:00.000-04:002006-10-01T12:06:55.126-04:00

I cannot lie and say that I do not have misgivings about much of what I have written recently. I suppose they are the same misgivings I have had repeatedly when I have attempted to clarify what I feel is true and what is not true about the relationship between faith and politics. I hate to sound quietist, because I do not believe Christianity is quietist. On the contrary, we are called to live

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1159629652237929222006-09-30T10:51:00.000-04:002006-09-30T11:20:52.256-04:00

Stripping away all the detritus of theology, what Christianity comes down to is this - God, the Creator of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Master of prions and elephants - loved me so much as to sacrifice a part of the Divine majesty as a ransom for my own wretched life. I have repaid that sacrifice with dilatoriness, sloth, lust, pride, and pettiness. I live an undisciplined, haphazard life,

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1159557318713308942006-09-29T14:59:00.000-04:002006-09-29T15:15:18.730-04:00

The truth is, I no longer put much stock in those who think they have it all figured out, faith-wise. I used to be such a person and am frankly ashamed of my own hubris and naivete. I have reached a point where my passion is no longer showing the world how clever I am; my passion is to discover the depths of God's love for the world, and to live out the life God calls me to. I understand at a

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1159549383221224832006-09-29T12:48:00.000-04:002006-09-29T13:03:03.243-04:00

The article here is an example of what I think of as an easy shot. Noted Christian progressive Randall Balmer tells of his attempt to get a clarification from certain religious right groups on our current policies regarding torture, rendition, etc.. The two answers he receives are wholly supportive of Pres. Bush.It's an easy shot because, rather than discuss issues, Balmer shows these groups up

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1159542057926401722006-09-29T10:46:00.000-04:002006-09-29T11:00:57.970-04:00

I guess I have found, over the course of the past few months, my positions on the relationship between politics and Christian faith changing. I no longer simply view the Christian faith as an endorsement of certain policies and an opponent of others. I no longer view the Christian Right with disdain as heretics or misguided, benighted yahoos in need of proper theological education. I no longer

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1159118051515723082006-09-24T12:59:00.000-04:002006-09-24T13:14:11.533-04:00

As a reply of sorts (no one has read this blog in a while, so who knows who will see it) to Jim Wallis, I offer this basic critique of the whole idea that God has policy positions. First, God's goal, as testified to in Scripture and revealed in Jesus Christ, is the final reconciliation of fallen creation with the creator. To that end, we are to live as we were created to live - loving one

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1158089772617164752006-09-12T15:25:00.000-04:002006-09-12T15:36:12.693-04:00

Yesterday, I participated in a comment-conversation here with some folks from Portugal concerning the events of 9/11 and the anniversary. It was a great conversation, with opinions being a rough mix of all sorts, all with sympathy for America as it remembered its honored dead.In the midst of the conversation, I was trying to point out to one commenter who had said that at least the United States

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1158073909949625052006-09-12T11:01:00.000-04:002006-09-12T11:11:50.046-04:00

Taps has been played. Tears have been shed. We all shared where we were, what we were doing, how we coped, how we didn't cope. It is now time to return to the present, to do the work we must do if we are to honor our dead justly. It is now time to take up again the struggle for justice and peace - not war, vengeance, and coroporate profit - and seek with humility and in full awareness of our

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1158003921763581802006-09-11T15:44:00.000-04:002006-09-11T16:04:43.116-04:00

The morning of September 11, 2001 was the beginning of a week's vacation. I got off work at 7:00 am and headed home, looking forward to a good morning's sleep, then leaving the next day with my four-year-old daughter for a trip to my parent's house in upstate NY to celebrate my father's 80th birthday. I crawled into bed after kissing my wife and our three month old daughter.I hadn't been asleep

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157998927372690062006-09-11T14:14:00.000-04:002006-09-11T14:22:07.416-04:00

An article linked through Faith in Public Life.org takes two steps back as liberal and progressive Christians, evangelical and mainstream, struggle to make their voices heard. I feel particularly piqued at Wallis over this because, ahem, not too long ago in this very blog I was saying similar things (no, I won't tell you where, I am too embarassed by them now). I have come to realize over the

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157986197450681832006-09-11T10:37:00.000-04:002006-09-11T13:10:33.000-04:00

A tip of the link to Michael Binder over at The Christian Left blog for this story from The Wshington Post. There are two things that struck me about the article, which I would urge you to read. First, at an attempt at "balance", the reporter, Caryle Murphy, managed to interview a conservative evangelical, Don Carson, from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School here in Illinois, who mentioned

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157901009510548472006-09-10T11:06:00.000-04:002006-09-10T18:37:25.493-04:00

On this Sunday morning, I am sitting, listening to the rain, and am captivated by a recording of "St. Matthews Passion", by J. S. Bach. The recording is courtesy of the Musical Heritage Society, a great place for fantastic classical and jazz recordings (I got a double CD of Benny Goodmann's 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall, not a copy of the vinyl, but complete with songs that had gone missing,

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157899253470030572006-09-10T10:32:00.000-04:002006-09-10T10:42:02.196-04:00

Thanks to my new link comes this story that, among other things, would seem to disprove what I have said earlier concerning the theocracy threat. After all, a law that would limit damages in religious liberty suits does seem to be part of a larger plan to inch theocracy forward, doesn't it?Except, of course, even if the law - part of a larger bill - passes the House (my guess is it will, but

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157894192620800892006-09-10T09:13:00.000-04:002006-09-10T09:16:32.636-04:00

To the right is a new link to the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. The blog is full of articles and opinion that reflect a strong faith, a determined politics, and a wise sense of the limits of both. It is a site, like Faith in Public Life.org, I shall use often as a source for information and reflection. Click it and check it out for yourself.

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157831293489561502006-09-09T15:37:00.000-04:002006-09-09T15:48:13.543-04:00

A recent Pew Center study, quoted and analyzed in part here reveals once again that the hype over the conservative-liberal divide in churches - the caricature of the fundy evangelical and the limousine liberal mainliner - is a bunch of hooey. As some of the most thoughtful and interesting religio-politiccal thought recently has emerged from evangelical thinkers wrestling with issues of

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157759530210191502006-09-08T19:45:00.000-04:002006-09-08T19:52:10.226-04:00

From the AP, courtesy of Faith in Public Life.org, comes this story from the governor's race in Texas. I suppose if Republicans can insist that it is Christian faith that drives them to oppose abortion, a Democrat can claim that faith is a factor in supporting the minimum wage. Seeing it print like this, I am starting to wonder about Rorty's argument, outlined in my previous post. I wonder how

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157665144762708462006-09-07T17:23:00.000-04:002006-09-07T17:39:04.863-04:00

I am proud to link, and to be linked back by, Faith In Public Life.org. I am particularly taken with their reprints of news articles. I have offered one already today. Now, I offer this one from St. Paul, MN. It is a good discussion of an issue with which I have struggled, including here in this blog earlier this summer (click on the archive button because I can't remember exactly where;

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157652301444051742006-09-07T13:58:00.000-04:002006-09-07T14:05:01.486-04:00

The headline - "War turns southern women against GOP" - was too good to pass up. The opening quote, in which a southern lady compares George Bush to (gasp!) Ulysses Grant, made the whole article worthwhile.I suppose this might trickle in to the MSM punditsphere as "worrying" or "troubling" for the GOP. In fact, it should have everyone from Ken Mehlman on down to the local precinct captain

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157645900110189362006-09-07T12:06:00.000-04:002006-09-07T12:18:24.296-04:00

Faith In Public Life.org has posted an article from Christianity Today that hits the nail on the head: the mix of Christianity and politics is neither simple nor simplistic, and too much of the discussion comes from ignorance on both sides - reporters who don't understand Christianity and take what they can get from media hacks; and Christians who are enthusiastic over certain issues, but ignore

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157504041534876782006-09-05T20:50:00.000-04:002006-09-05T20:54:01.536-04:00

I offer the following quote from Gilkey's monumental Reaping the Whirlwind: A Christian Interpretation of History, p.23:[I]f we use our waning preponderance of power in a fit of anxiety, pride, and the lust to remain dominant and secure, we shall only bring down ourselves, our world, and the noble house of our traditional cultural life more quickly.Does anything better encapsulate our current

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157483381004903832006-09-05T14:48:00.000-04:002006-09-05T15:09:44.760-04:00

Over at Faith in Public Life.org, there is a reprint of an article by Newsweek reporter Jerry Adler on recent books attacking religion. I want to focus on Sam Harris, because I have heard him featured, and heard his arguments, which offer nothing new, rehashes of centuries-old so-called "rationalist" attacks on religion. I find it fascinating that a human phenomenon that transcends race, class,

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157295418306432102006-09-03T10:45:00.000-04:002006-09-03T10:56:58.450-04:00

I heard a story on BBC America late last night about the attempt by Lord's Resistance Army leaders to avoid extradition to the International Criminal Court through participation in a northern Ugandan ritual of foregiveness. Apparently, such rituals are a part of the regional culture, a way of creating a space for social peace after strife. Unfortunately, those who wish to participate in such

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157199506395979552006-09-02T08:12:00.000-04:002006-09-02T08:18:30.956-04:00

In Iraq, it would seem it is when a United States general declares it to be so. Of course, I don't believe the generals speak from their own perspective, understanding, and experience. Rather, I think it is on orders from civilian commanders, i.e., the Bush Administration. The hilarious thing is, of course (if anything about what is happening is funny), that all week Bush, Rumsfeld, and others

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1157115606987672392006-09-01T08:43:00.000-04:002006-09-01T09:00:08.996-04:00

In thinking more and reading more about the issue about gay rights, some of what I recently wrote, some of the what I've recently read, etc., I've come to the conclusion that at the heart of the argument, where first principles lie as it were, there is a contradiction in the sexual minority community's argument concerning the status of LGBT in society. On the one hand, many people (myself

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1156803480811237902006-08-28T17:58:00.000-04:002006-08-28T18:18:00.986-04:00

In 1993, I participated in the big spring March on Washington. There were close to half a million of us - gay, lesbain, TV, TS, and straights - demanding justice and equal rights for sexual minorities. As we walked to the Mall to find our spot in the line up, we passed a street person, sleeping it off over a grate. The others in our groups either stepped over or around him. None but me, as

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1156689790553558662006-08-27T10:39:00.000-04:002006-08-27T10:43:10.566-04:00

New Orelans - birthplace of jazz, home of the French Quarter, a city where the most popular tourist attraction is a street with strip joints and sex clubs - was severely wounded by flodding last year. Katrina hit. The levees broke. They are still finding the bodies. The federal government congratulates itself for its great job. The city is dying, and we are a lesser people because New

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1156286548579899732006-08-22T18:15:00.000-04:002006-08-22T18:42:28.740-04:00

The folks over at Faith in Public Life reprint an article by Timothy Shah and Monica Toft telling a story that should be obvious to anyone paying attention for the past fifteen to twenty years - against all the predictions of proponents of what was called the "secularization thesis" (as education, economic growth, and increased contact with other societies, cultures and religions spread,

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1156251417324578352006-08-22T08:23:00.000-04:002006-08-22T08:56:57.460-04:00

I want to take a short break from politics (thank you, thank you!) and consider the question of beauty. I am far from being anything like knowledgeable about art history, but I tend not to be too fussy about what I consider an aesthetic experience. While moved by painting and the plastic arts to a limited extent, it is music, photography, and film that capture my imagination, move me, and put

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1156214589262314122006-08-21T22:27:00.000-04:002006-08-21T22:43:09.383-04:00

In a comment here, a person raises the issue of the proper limit of Christian political advocacy. Embedded within this comment is a position that, if considered carefully, is actually nonsensical, because it flies in the face of the very nature of political action. As this seems to be a theme of recent posts, I thought I would take a moment and digress upon this issue to lay a broader context

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com63tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1156169437425881122006-08-21T09:31:00.000-04:002006-08-21T10:10:37.563-04:00

Our local paper, the Rockford, IL Register-Star carried a story by staff reporter Pat Cunningham with the following headline: "Reactions mixed to bishop's swipe at Democrats". It seems that the Bishop of the Rockford diocese, Thomas Doran, wrote an article for the diocesan newspaper that, while not naming the Democratic Party specifically, wrote (in an excerpt printed by the Register-Star): "We

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1156079042690483422006-08-20T08:44:00.000-04:002006-08-20T09:04:02.733-04:00

Re-reading what I have written so far makes me feel uneasy. I am still working through these ideas, and have yet to figure out where they are heading, but it should be clear from the larger content of my blog that I am not in favor of religious quietism, from the left or the right. We Christians have a duty to speak up as our faith moves us. Our voices are not to be silent in the battles of

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1156016455125203632006-08-19T15:37:00.000-04:002006-08-19T15:40:55.136-04:00

So the story is this. In Ohio, a groups of liberal clergy are attempting to set up a meeting with the conservative Republican candidate for governor.Why?Because the candidate already had a meeting with a group of conservative clergy.What a waste of time and energy.As long as we play the game by their rules, we lose. As long as we play the game, we have already lost.

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155991162171986042006-08-19T08:10:00.000-04:002006-08-19T08:39:22.293-04:00

I think what brought about my "conversion", for lack of a better word, to a different approach to issues of religion and faith in the public square, was Barack Obama's speech earlier this summer. Much was made by liberal Christians, and E. J. Dionne, a moderately liberal columnist, seemed as giddy as a school-boy when he discussed it. I, on the other hand, was not impressed (in fact, I posted

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155949919563216462006-08-18T20:50:00.000-04:002006-08-18T21:11:59.690-04:00

Over here a question is asked: "Why, in God's name, would Baptists raise a monument to the Puritans?" The simple answer is: historical ignorance. More to the point, the post of which this is a part - and the larger dialogue to which that post belongs - is, to my mind, a waste of precious time and intellectual and emotional energy. Why, in God's name, are we worrying about the Religious Right,

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155860712759597932006-08-17T19:54:00.000-04:002006-08-17T20:25:12.916-04:00

Over at Faith in Public Life.org, in an article on recent criticisms of the Religious right by self-proclaimed evangelicals, there was a passage on abortion that made me realize I had yet to venture into those troubled waters. In honor of my one-hundredth posting, I thought, "What the hell?" I've already been told I hate Jews, why not piss off a whole bunch of other people?First, I feel - as do

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155837308467142422006-08-17T13:34:00.000-04:002006-08-17T13:55:08.653-04:00

I figured if I didn't write something like this soon, my sister would start asking me, "What about all the Christian stuff?"To become ordained in the United Methodist Church, the process is long, involves input from everyone from your best friend to complete strangers, psychological testing, paper writing, and interview after interview in front of committee after committee. While the UMC didn't

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155774007637666292006-08-16T20:01:00.000-04:002006-08-16T20:20:07.840-04:00

Thinking about some comments on a thread on the other blog where I write led me to the whole subject of fear in our political climate. One would have thought that, with the White House fear machine pretty much plaid out, and liberals and progressives on the offensive, fear would no longer be an issue. Yet, it is. A commenter insisted that there was much to fear from Pat Robertson - his command

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155685226827276282006-08-15T19:31:00.000-04:002006-08-15T19:40:26.863-04:00

I need to get off this whole "the government has lost its mind" kick, but I have this little anecdote to report. Yesterday, a friend of ours had to enter a gated community near where we live on an errand. The rules of the community are that any guests must be called in by the person they are visiting. My own experience is that this rarely happens, and it didn't happen in this particular case.

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155570973870143582006-08-14T11:46:00.000-04:002006-08-14T11:56:13.986-04:00

I was thinking last night of the last spurt of international terrorism the Palestinians engaged in, back in the mid-1980's. There was the comandeering of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean, and the murder of Eugene Hasenfus, quite literally wheeled overboard in his wheelchair. That was in the fall of 1984. In the summer of 1985, there was the hijacking of, I believe, an

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155569244341252242006-08-14T10:59:00.000-04:002006-08-14T13:32:12.620-04:00

In the movie Ghost, Patrick Swayze "haunts" Whoopi Goldberg, trying to convince her to send a message to Demi Moore. In doing so, he revived a horrible Herman's Hermits song "Henry the VIII", singing it over and over and over and over . . . She relents, of course (I would have as soon as I realized what he was up to!). I bring this up here because of comments Homeland Security Secretary

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155495689874748502006-08-13T14:20:00.000-04:002006-08-13T15:01:30.000-04:00

I think it was Don DeLillo, the first head of the President's Faith Based Initiative who, after leaving the White House in disgust, called the team in charge in Washington "Mayberry Machiavellis", no doubt insulting both a great instance of American popular culture and one of the great political thinkers of all time. Yet, there is something to be said for this description, for it captures, in an

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155427425349902362006-08-12T20:00:00.000-04:002006-08-12T20:04:30.216-04:00

When I read the headline, I wondered what the story could possibly be about. The story itself shows that, because of a plot in Britain, we are about to lose our minds. Cell phones are used in Iraq as IEDs, so why not here in the US, right? Three Arab men with Trac phones, they must want to blow up something, right?I think we may never be sane again.

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155398975500219302006-08-12T11:42:00.000-04:002006-08-12T12:09:35.613-04:00

Since I wrote here that it is necessary for Christian progressives to offer alternatives both to the nay-saying of the Christian right and secular progressives, I figured I had better put up or shut up. I will admit, off the bat, that I haven't really thought through many of the implications beyond certain "first principles" for lack of a better word, and anything I write here is very

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155301988139300732006-08-11T08:45:00.000-04:002006-08-11T09:13:08.290-04:00

The breaking of a terrorist plot in Britain yesterday aimed at destroying up to ten airplanes in mid-air is the gateway to a multitude of reflections. We shall restrict ourselves here to the political hay supporters and critics of the Bush Administration are making of it. In this way, we shall illustrate the power of narrative to take a complex event and use it illustratively in an on-going

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155229133603497132006-08-10T12:20:00.000-04:002006-08-10T12:58:58.776-04:00

Apparently, back on June 8, I used Norman Cohn's Europe's Inner Demons as a vehicle to speak against the whole idea of creating narratives. While I think the post was OK, I want to be a bit more explicit in my condemnation of the whole idea of imposing a narrative structure upon the world. My position is actually quite simple to articulate: The imposition of narrative upon reality creates a

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155166509274533552006-08-09T19:08:00.000-04:002006-08-09T19:35:09.380-04:00

You know, for someone who claimed he hated to write about Israel, I certainly am spending quite a bit of time writing about the subject. The current focus is on the strange marriage of convenience between Zionists and various shades of Christians who support the current nation-state of Israel. I find such a marriage interesting because the Christians who enthusiastically support the existence

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155083035301741002006-08-08T20:10:00.000-04:002006-08-08T20:23:55.393-04:00

In an earlier post, "Trying to be profound and getting it all wrong" (or whatever it is), a commenter wrote that he did not see the Enlightenment as a contributing factor in social ills, but rather what he called a "pathology". I find such a comment interesting because it implies that there is a norm across time and space and culture against which human social and political action can be guaged.

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1155078860903411062006-08-08T19:10:00.000-04:002006-08-08T19:14:20.916-04:00

Amazingly, while I was on a bit of a hiatus, I have received quite a bit of atention. First, someone, posting under another person's name, posted a copy of a letter from the Simon Wiesenthal Center to my thread criticizing Alan Dershowitz. Apparently, no criticism of Israel is allowed, even from a temporarily inactive blog. Second, i've been getting all sorts of traffic and invites to

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1154907589556452882006-08-06T19:25:00.000-04:002006-08-06T19:39:49.596-04:00

This is outside the general purvue of this blog, but I was asked recently by a European concerning the American attitude towards smokers. While this person is a physician and is well aware of the physical damage smoking does, this person does not see the issue as a social question. This person even used the word "segregation" to describe our general treatment of smokers. While smokers are

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1154738780199651902006-08-04T20:38:00.000-04:002006-08-04T20:46:20.226-04:00

Suppose that a group opposing Mexican immigration, tired of a lack of policy on the part of the federal government, decided to take matters into their own hands, and used armed force to deter illegal Mexican immigration. Suppose that the group, emboldened by a lack of serious deterrent on the part of state and federal law enforcement, and a show of vocal support by at least a plurality of the

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152844660979038232006-07-13T22:15:00.000-04:002006-07-13T22:37:41.143-04:00

Arthur Silber is worried. He has every right to be. War is never the correct choice if all other avenues have not been tried first. The Israelis are doing everything wrong. People are dying, and any hope of getting the kidnapped soldiers back alive, as far as I am concerned, ended when the first Israeli missile hit the Beirut airport.Arthur is quite correct that the powers that be want to

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152813261845371422006-07-13T12:36:00.000-04:002006-07-13T13:54:22.006-04:00

While events are unfolding rapidly in the on-going Israeli attack on Lebanon, I want to consider two very different pieces of journalism on what has happened so far. One is thoughtful, cautious, and respectful of the complexities involved. The other is on the NY Times website. We shall wait to introduce the Idiotic Epilogue at the proper moment.First we have a piece by Jim Lobe that puts the

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152793501168408312006-07-13T08:15:00.000-04:002006-07-13T09:07:47.026-04:00

What follows is because my oldest sister made fun of me yesterday. Thank her.Earlier I wrote a review of Isaiah Berlin's The Crooked Timber of Humanity, and I praised it because, among other things, it stated clearly several things that I believed to be true, but had difficulty putting into words. I believed that certain human ends, certain social goods were incompatible, including social goods

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152730725898903992006-07-12T14:48:00.000-04:002006-07-13T19:58:47.276-04:00

Courtesy of Stephen Elliott over at the Huffington Post, comes this story of a pro-lifer who not only doesn't get it, once he is told he doesn't get it, is happy he doesn't get it. It's one thing to be passionate about an issue - whether your anti-abortion, anti-war, an environmentalist, a First Amendment absolutist, whatever - but it's another thing to be clueless. Still more, it's one thing

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152720133557832942006-07-12T10:43:00.000-04:002006-07-12T12:02:13.590-04:00

I will apologize now for the Greenwaldian length of what follows, as well as the possible obstuseness and obscurity of it. This piece literally reached out and whacked me up side the head; what can I tell you?I am no fan of the Enlightenment, that period in philosophical history that coincided, roughly speaking, with the eighteenth century. Michele de Montaigne, Condorcet, Diderot, Voltaire (no

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152674740409069332006-07-11T23:20:00.000-04:002006-07-12T15:10:36.080-04:00

I found this and am dumbstruck. It's like monkeys are running the country.I realize it's late, and I should go to bed. I shouldn't allow this kind of thing to ruin my night.Indiana?Monkeys. It's gotta be monkeys.UPDATE: I thought about creating a new post, but why, when what follows fits in so well with this topic. Among those getting a raise at the White House was the Director of Lessons

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152666962858265012006-07-11T20:50:00.000-04:002006-07-11T21:16:03.006-04:00

I really like Glenn Greenwald, even though I've never met him. I like him because he writes good, engaging, thoughtful, intelligent - and long - pieces. Did I mention his pieces are long? Really long. Longer than mine, and I've gotten a few complaints! Glenn's stuff is powerful and part of that power is the fact that Glenn usually knows what he's talking about. Until this piece. He writes,

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152649112839594792006-07-11T15:47:00.000-04:002006-07-11T16:18:32.996-04:00

I don't like even to think about the mess over there, to be honest. There are so many other things that are less likely to involve being called rude names. The truth is, I had hoped to avoid ever writing about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but Alan Dershowitz really pissed me off. I am really quite tired of Americans telling other Americans that we cannot chastise Israel for its

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152633128062712322006-07-11T11:36:00.000-04:002006-07-11T11:52:08.213-04:00

You know, it's people like this that make me want to hide the fact that I'm a Christian. It isn't enough they can't read the Bible correctly; it isn't enough they want to "convert" Jews. They have this plan to do all this . . . so they can look forward to the destruction of the world! Again, it isn't enough that they can't read the Bible correctly . . .In his book The American Religion, Harold

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152578400775987302006-07-10T20:11:00.000-04:002006-07-10T23:26:52.356-04:00

I was not going to post again today, but I ran across this courtesy of Crooks & Liars. That and I was listening to Dead Soul Tribe, not conducive to upbeat reflections on anything anyway. I was caught by the end of Silber's comments. He writes:Can there ever be foregiveness for this kind of deliberate self-blindness, or for this refusal to acknowledge the unbearable pain and suffering their

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152569641785939722006-07-10T18:11:00.000-04:002006-07-10T18:14:01.786-04:00

I have been invited to contribute to a blog called Burn the Liberals to write on religious issues from a progressive perspective. I guess that means I will have to bone up on the second-half of this blogs title, huh? I was afraid of that.Anyway, once a week, I'll post something incendiary over there. Come have a read; from what I've seen, the stuff is really good.

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152565998338154102006-07-10T16:42:00.000-04:002006-07-10T17:13:18.523-04:00

You know, I always wanted to like Margaret Carlson. Back in the days when she was on CNN's "Capitol Gang", I wanted to root for her, I did. She reminded me of Velma on Scooby Doo with those glasses and that nasally voice, and I always backed the underdog. Lately, though, the more I read, not only am I not impressed, I am frankly surprised at how stupid an individual who is supposed to make her

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152558751172051462006-07-10T14:23:00.000-04:002006-07-10T18:02:25.403-04:00

Note: It seems like I have ignored the right-hand side of my name for a while. Sorry about that. I shall post on that when I can.Recently, Pres. Bush admitted that diplomacy with North Korea was difficult because it was difficult to figure out exactly what it is North Korea was doing. These words echoed (or perhaps were echoes of; I'm not sure who said it first) the views of Condoleezza Rice,

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152476489096917482006-07-09T15:37:00.000-04:002006-07-09T16:21:29.233-04:00

This is going to be another multi-posting day. I want to give a tip of the hat to atrios for this particular piece on David Brooks. Brooks became well known not too long ago with a book entitled Bobobs in Paradise, thus attempting to coin a term, like "yuppie", that applied to a whole class of people who shared certain characteristics. In this case, Brooks claim was that 60's style readicals

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152456086766853642006-07-09T10:07:00.000-04:002006-07-09T10:41:26.886-04:00

So, it's like this. I have been trying to engage some right-wingers in debate and discussion; I actually succeeded with one guy earlier this week. With another guy I have been less successful. In fact, yesterday, I decided to try posting a comment at his site. I pointed out a simple grammar error (he typed "apro po" for the word "apropos") in an earlier post he had. I also pointed out that I

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152378454477930582006-07-08T12:35:00.000-04:002006-07-08T13:07:34.643-04:00

An Iraqi war vet, acting "strange" on a NY to Tampa flight, burst out of his seat and charged the door to the cockpit. He was tackled by some passengers (so much for air marshals). Frightening, especially to those who had to experience it, I have no doubt. Yet, how responsible is he for his actions? How responsible is the Bush Administration?I know that sounds like another liberal blaming

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152335882053661602006-07-08T00:20:00.000-04:002006-07-08T01:18:02.156-04:00

First of all, I admit it, OK? While I don't post there, I do still read Huffington Post. It is, at least, a good round-up of stories, and the occasional blog post is worth a glance. Tonight, getting ready to go to bed, I read through some of the comments on a story on Colin Powell, and I can't say as I disagree with them. In an interview, Powell was saying how we need to close the prison at

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152278932184817472006-07-07T08:51:00.000-04:002006-07-07T09:28:52.310-04:00

I was not even aware until yesterday that there was such a thing. I saw it referred to in the course of comments over on Glenn Greenwald's blog, and my brother explained it to me: The first one to call the other a Nazi loses. First of all, such a debating rule is fine under certain circumstances. As we consider the descent of the United States into extra-Constitutional rule, I believe it has

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152276653331341502006-07-07T08:01:00.000-04:002006-07-07T10:47:33.816-04:00

The folks over at Faith in Public Life aren't happy with me. This would probably not bother me too much, except the source of their discomfort is a symptom of something both insidious and maddening. I will admit that my thoughts and opinions concerning a variety of issues are evolving, partly because of this blog. Because I am forcing myself each day to work through what it is I think and why,

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152196568436052962006-07-06T10:09:00.000-04:002006-07-06T10:36:08.536-04:00

If you read the comment in the post "The Words We Use Matter", you will see the latest response from psycmeistr. I am put in an "ilk" again - is that bigger or smaller than a cohort? - and told that I don't realize that there are a billion Muslims that want to kill me, or at least make me convert, thus I have to support the President in all he does without question. I am told I just don't get

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152194429455086742006-07-06T09:44:00.000-04:002006-07-06T10:00:29.553-04:00

Last week, I got an email from a woman who I knew when I was in high school. Truth be told, she was ny first real girlfriend, whom I broke up with for some reason lost in the mists of time. She proceeded to go out with one of my best friends for the next year or so. I was extremely stupid about the whole thing, and my only excuse then is that I was sixteen and being stupid comes with the

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152146348457536372006-07-05T20:32:00.000-04:002006-07-06T09:03:26.833-04:00

I first read about this story this morning at Crooks & Liars. There was a note about it at Faith in Public Life - Blogging Faith. Now, Markos has info at his site (click the post title to go to Daily Kos and read the story). I am ashamed to be a Christian and an American today.UPDATE: I found out last night, reading Kos, that the guy who posted the names and addresses lives in Chicago. I

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152102866645387932006-07-05T08:12:00.000-04:002006-07-05T08:34:26.753-04:00

In thinking more about my encounter with the person at psycmeistr, I have been considering more and more the language we use when we contact one another. He assaults with cliches, uses political rhetoric, does not so much address me as he does a certain target audience with which he can converse, over my head as it were. This is not speech or argument with another person; I'm not sure what that

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1152013853076120442006-07-04T06:59:00.000-04:002006-07-04T08:55:22.990-04:00

If you click the link in the above title, you will go to a place that is as different from this site as can be. First, the person who operates it is much more tech savvy than I am - all these banners and links and photos and things . . . It's really impressive. The blog, psycmeister, is a conservative blog. When I say conservative, I am using this person's lable. It is actually quite

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151934141043269922006-07-03T09:13:00.000-04:002006-07-03T09:42:21.136-04:00

This past week's lesson was the story of the two healings - the woman with the flow of blood and the daughter of the Roman official. I was struck, as I sat and listened to the reading, at the way issues of power and position were quite clear for the first time, right there in the text, rather that subtextual. More interesting, as I have contemplated it further, is the sudden confrontation

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151850801849101992006-07-02T10:01:00.000-04:002006-07-02T10:33:21.946-04:00

As we cruise toward another celebration of our independence from the British Empire - our 230th year as a sovereign nation - I want to revisit a concept that is so ingrained in our national psyche, it even effects the thinking of foreign policy analysts who should know better (I excuse Henry Kissinger from this; he belongs in a dock in The Hague, and he isn't nearly as smart as his German accent

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151802852818711012006-07-01T20:35:00.000-04:002006-07-01T21:14:12.910-04:00

I was sitting this evening with my two daughters, eating ice cream. There is a little ice cream parlor/hot food place in our little neck of the woods, and we like to go there as much as possible in the summer. We went tonight because the wife/mother is away and we decided to have dessert before dinner. While we were enjoying our cones and cups - my youngest had soft-serve swirl, my older

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151763759031314642006-07-01T09:52:00.000-04:002006-07-01T12:19:36.686-04:00

If anyone detected a note of anger in my previous post on Sen. Obama, that is no accident. To quote a black radical from the sixties (I forget who), I am not angry, I am enraged. I am enraged at our current politics, our shallow, ridiculous public discourse, our criminal Administration, and the incredulity I and many feel at the callowness of our politicians. We need adults in Washington; we

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151717627807472442006-06-30T21:10:00.000-04:002006-07-01T12:20:58.323-04:00

I have hesitated to write about this; I mean, three postings in one day? Don't I have anything better to do? Actually, I do, and I have done several of them. I still feel it necessary to say a few things concerning a speech Illinois Senator Barack Obama made earlier this week on religion and politics. Some have praised it; others have panned it. I have criticized the panners on the secular

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151692608217090912006-06-30T13:56:00.000-04:002006-06-30T14:36:48.310-04:00

Over at Faith in Public Life - Blogging Faith (click the title to check it out), I am in an ongoing discussion over my frustration with secular progressives and their attitude towards people of faith. The issue is a complicated one, and it is not the less complicated because I feel that I am acting cowardly by refusing to endorse some kind of outreach towards secular progressives. I am aware

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151679163148424992006-06-30T10:25:00.000-04:002006-06-30T10:52:43.253-04:00

We possess only a mixed individuality all our life long. A pure, separate, individual man living wholly within and from himself, is a mere fiction.Horace Bushnellquoted in Gary Dorrien,The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805 - 1900, p. 136. Italics and exclusive language in originalAnother entry courtesy of Dorrien's dense, wonderful history. Most people

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151628924519423052006-06-29T20:29:00.000-04:002006-06-29T20:55:24.530-04:00

Why should each new soul that is launched out of God into Nature be wrecked at the beginning of the voyage by following the charts of its mates instead the compass, the stars, and the continents?Ralph Waldo Emersonquoted by Gary DorrienThe Making of American Liberal Theology:Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805-1900, pp.70-71There it is; in a nutshell there is the American protest against "

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151591262449356502006-06-29T09:47:00.000-04:002006-06-29T10:27:42.543-04:00

I have a confession to make. I'm a hypocrite. I admit it. There are scads of things I believe are right and true and good, that I tell other people are right and true and good, that I insist we all should do to make our lives and our world better. I do not do them. In fact, sometimes, I go out of my way to not do them. I am blatant, glorying in my failures. I confess, I ask for strength to

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151507843354115002006-06-28T11:02:00.000-04:002006-06-28T11:17:23.433-04:00

Last night, I handed in my resignation to the Huffington Post. I checked back this morning, just to read the headlines, and the same crowd was doing the same thing: going round and round and round, calling names, getting filthier and filthier as they did so, no one listening, no one seeming to care that unless we pull together we are all sunk. At first, I enjoyed the fact that there was a site

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151415789360737012006-06-27T09:17:00.000-04:002006-06-27T09:48:45.160-04:00

A big part of the debate I was in over the weekend concerned the whole question of "reality". My opponent took the position that science was superior to religion - and other forms of "knowing" - because it gave us "reality". I responded that, in fact, it no more gave us reality than did other ways of "knowing" because science wasn't about knowing in any substantive way. The whole quesiton of

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151368509610420302006-06-26T20:14:00.000-04:002006-06-26T20:35:09.693-04:00

I have started to read Gary Dorrien's history of liberal Protestant thought in the United States, and I can't help but think about it in two different contexts. The first, of course, is in reference to current theological and general religious trends. While people like William Ellery Channing, Emerson, Horace Bushnell and the rest certainly created a uniquely American understanding of the

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151291776132009812006-06-25T23:04:00.000-04:002006-06-25T23:16:16.146-04:00

I suppose I have my wife to thank, at least indirectly. More like I have the Holy Spirit to thank, working through the words and actions of my wife. Today's lesson was David and Goliath. She used it as an allegory for fighting those things that seem insurmountable, unbeatable, terrifying in their lust for destruction and disdain for life. Lisa keyed in on, as she has for quite a while,

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151185190668213082006-06-24T17:16:00.000-04:002006-06-24T17:39:53.583-04:00

Here's the thing. On the one hand, I was and am very moved by Donald Miller's stirring account of the "Confession Booth", as reported below, or above, or however, in a previous blog. Not only am I moved by it, I understand it to be an authentic Christian response to the world. If confession is to have any meaning, it must be more than simply saying "Jesus is Lord" over and over again. If

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151078121142009432006-06-23T11:54:00.000-04:002006-06-23T11:55:21.150-04:00

Pop some popcorn, pour yourself a drink, click the link and watch.

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151070048097758102006-06-23T09:19:00.000-04:002006-06-23T09:40:48.206-04:00

I have been hashing and re-hashing this whole meta-political idea, running over and over it in my mind, and I have come to the firm conclusion that . . . this is nothing new. I am, rather, making a distinction between Christian Discipleship and Christian ethics, a distinction that renders the latter a specific instance, highly concentrated and conditional (even situational!), of the former. I

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1151004377140358902006-06-22T15:10:00.000-04:002006-06-22T15:26:17.226-04:00

I was led to St. Paul's letter to the Ephesian church through N. T. Wright (a constant source of wonder and insight). In re-reading it, my eyes were drawn to the following verses in chapter 1, 19b-23: His mighty strength was seen at work when he raised Christ from the dead, and enthoned him at his right and in the heavenly realms, far above all government and authority, all power and dominion,

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1150991204439188362006-06-22T11:32:00.000-04:002006-06-22T11:46:44.473-04:00

I want to make some things perfectly clear. First, by claiming Christianity is meta-political, I am not suggesting it is apolitical. I am only saying that it is both above our transient political concerns, and also sits as both the limit and horizon for all possible politics (God, doesn't that sound like Karl Barth?). Living a Christian life puts one both beyond categorization and also deeply

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1150917116400923742006-06-21T14:33:00.000-04:002006-06-21T15:11:56.486-04:00

God wants the world to be ordered, to keep evil in check, otherwise wickedness simply flourishes and naked power and aggression wins. But the rulers of the world are themselves answerable to God, not least at the point where they use their power to become just like the bullies they are supposed to be restraining. Meanwhile, God is working out a very different purpose, which will result in the

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1150905233693125902006-06-21T10:59:00.000-04:002006-06-21T11:53:53.700-04:00

I ended yesterday's post on the Presbyterian Church debate over the Trinity with the words "heresy" and "apostasy". Tomorrow, if I remember and am not distracted by something else, I shall tackle the "a" word, but for today, I want to talk about the whole idea of heresy, and why I think it needs to be revived, although not in the way some fundamentalists and other traditionalists might want. My

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The headline was enough to make me do a spit take all over my laptop. The Prebysterian Church - heirs of Jean Calvin and John Knox, partners with Karl Barth and Jurgen Moltmann - are debating new ways of expressing the Church's faith in the Trinity. Some of the formulas were unintentionally hilarious, like "Mother, Child, Womb". Others were historically accurate to the extent they were

Progressive Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06852355805132276777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28157044.post-1150728693868918152006-06-19T09:52:00.000-04:002006-06-19T12:46:57.410-04:00

(A note: I just have a knack for long titles. Sorry about that.)One wonders where to begin. There are so many flaws in Steel's review article in the June 22, 2006 edition of The New York Review of Books - of style, of content, of historical analysis - an even longer piece could be done challenging him. We shall stick here to Steel's characterization of the Populist movement (for that effects

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