Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Big News, and a Blast from the Past!

Big News, and a Blast from the Past!

Last updated on: May 2, 2024 at 7:22 am by Vance Morgan

0 Comments

Big News, and a Blast from the Past! 2024-05-02T07:22:21-04:00 Vance Morgan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

First, some big news! Yesterday I signed a contract for my book A Year of Faith and Philosophy: Exploring Spiritual Growth Through the Liturgical Cycle. It will be published by Church Publishing, the official publishing house for the Episcopal Church. They bit on the proposal in early February; after several fruitful exchanges with one of the editors, it is now under contract. In the publishing world (and in academia, for that matter), less than three months from proposal to contract is lightning speed. My deadline for submission of the final manuscript is August 15th, with publication in Fall 2025. I’m pumped!

Because I am entering into finals week with tons of grading, followed by a thoough revision of the book through the summer months, I plan to be revising and updating “Golden Oldies” from the 12.5 years of this blog’s existence over the coming weeks. I start with this one from the fall of 2020, during the height of the pandemic, when I was spending way too much time on social mediaFacebook . . .

People are prone to apply the meaning of other people’s arguments to suit opinions that they have previously determined in their minds. Michel de Montaigne

Not long ago, I found myself involved in a discussion on a progressive Christian Facebook page, a site that occasionally shares my blog posts. The article under discussion was directed primarily at evangelical Christians, wondering what they thought about the fact that Jesus in the gospels regularly speaks and acts as if he believes in income equality and leveling the playing field in ways that good capitalists would not endorse. There was one particular discussion participant who was having a hard time with the whole premise. Over a series of comments, he argued, among other things, that

When Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all that he had and give it to the poor as a prerequisite to becoming a disciple, he couldn’t have meant it literally. “This would have made him poor. To take this passage literally would not be to promote wealth redistribution. It would be promoting poverty. Socialism promotes poverty.”
Despite multiple texts and interpretations to the contrary, Jesus himself was not poor. “Jesus was wealthy, not poor. Remember, Jesus was visited by kings bearing gifts. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh are expensive. Bible historians have estimated around 300 kings came to visit each bearing gifts out of their wealth.” Not sure who these historians are (if they exist), but this could explain how Joseph and Mary, who were not wealthy, bankrolled their flight with the baby Jesus from Herod into Egypt, where they stayed for a couple of years. Just saying. 🙂

Apparently, Jesus’ wealth also took care of the needs of the entourage that followed Jesus away from their homes and families for three years. “Jesus was being frugal with his wealth. Remember, Jesus was providing, not just for himself; he was also providing for his disciples, their wives and children.”

Throughout his comments, as he dealt with a great deal of pushback, it was clear that this guy had an agenda, an opinion that he had already embraced and that all of the stories about Jesus had to accommodate: Anything that shows Jesus to have even the slightest leanings toward communitarianism and socialism has to be interpreted in order to make them compatible with capitalism. Jesus could not have really meant it when he said that those who are poor matter more than those who are wealthy. He couldn’t have been serious when he told people to sell all they had and give it to the poor before they followed him. He must have been speaking hyperbolically when he said that foxes have their dens, birds have their nests, but he had no place to lay his head. Why? Because none of these would fit with what this guy wanted to believe.

After reading everyone’s input, I made my first comment, directed at the “Jesus was wealthy” guy: It’s amazing to me the knots people will twist themselves into in order to get a story or text to fit with what they already want to believe. If you want to believe that Jesus was wealthy, despite everything the gospels say to the contrary, be my guest. He did not respond well, challenging me to a resume-measuring contest: I’m a minister working on my doctorate. I don’t twist the scriptures. Are you a minister? Confidant that the relevant length of my own resume/vita undoubtedly exceeds his, I didn’t take the bait. Instead, I was already thinking “there’s a blog post in this!”

I deal with this sort of thing in the classroom on a daily basis. One of the most important skills someone seeking to be a lifetime-learner must develop is how to follow an argument, a text, or a set of facts to their most likely and logical conclusion, even if that conclusion runs counter to what one already believes, would like to be true, or badly wants to be true. But instead of relying on my own experience, I did something that I do less often than I should when writing—I asked others for their input. I sent the following call out to my 1100 or so Facebook friends:

Working on a new essay: “What to do when the facts lead to a conclusion that you don’t like.” I don’t usually crowdsource, but would be interested in your thoughts. What is your advice for those who are confronted with an argument that leads to a conclusion that doesn’t fit with their preconceived notions?

My friends, acquaintances, and colleagues did not disappoint—in short order, answers began rolling in. Here are some highlights (all direct quotations):

Pause, reflect, sip a favourite [he’s Australian] beverage, and explore the implications of the two different paths. Don’t jump at the new facts, evidence, or argument with too much enthusiasm, but neither hold onto your preconceptions with too much tenacity . . . It may sound odd to believe two contradictory premises, but I believe it is quite possible in the real world.
Acknowledge that truth (and/or the truth of one’s experience of something) can still exist in arguments proven to be false.
Check for accuracy, and if proven correct, change my mind.
Adjust the theory to fit the data.
Discuss your discomfort.
I essentially told my students who were afraid to research because it might change their opinion that they need to tell their story.
If the facts belie your preconceived notions, then you change your preconceived notions to more enlightenment, and do it graciously.
Stop listening to your favorite stand-up comics.

Nothing in the above replies is likely to be new to you; you might even say “I’ve heard all of this before.” So have I. But it is worthwhile to hear it again, because very few people actually do any of the above when their most favorite and cherished beliefs don’t stand up to a logical argument or the facts. Instead, they hunker down and dig deeper into their hole of unwarranted conviction and certainty.

Why? Because while all of the above wisdom sounds familiar, it is very difficult to put into practice. Opening oneself to change is one of the most difficult, yet most important, activities that any person can engage in. It takes practice. It takes a lot of humility. And it takes a lot of courage.

Of the dozens of responses I received to my Facebook question, the best came unexpectedly from a person whom I have met only once, a woman who married into my family some years ago, but lives on the other side of the country.

As a religion student . . . I watched a debate on the existence of God . . . It was a Baptist minister in favor and a scientist dissenting. At this point in my life I was a vocal atheist, and I picked my horse. The debaters presented logical proofs supporting their opinions. As one argument followed the next, I found myself unable to see the world so bereft as the scientist described. I ended up on the side of the minister, because the world I know is full of something inexplicable that unites us. It rocked my strongly held belief, and reminds me that the only thing I know, is that I know nothing.

Two summers ago, I read Montaigne’s monumental Essais—all 800+ pages of them in translation—in preparation for a course on his work that I would be teaching the next spring (a course that got rudely interrupted and sent remote by Covid-19 halfway through last March). Montaigne wrote his essays in the top room of an octagonal tower at the corner of his estate in France. In one of the timbered ceiling beams in his study, Montaigne famously carved a simple question: Que sais-je? What do I know? It has come to represent his life’s work. His own answer to the question, gleaned from dozens and dozens of essays, is something along the lines of “Not a whole lot, but I’ll never stop trying to learn more.”

My goal for my students—indeed for myself—is to become more and more comfortable with saying that “This is what I believe, but I might be wrong.” Or, “This is what I believe, but I have a lot to learn.” This is especially important when thinking and talking about what is greater than us. The desire for security and certainty is deeply embedded in our human DNA—resist it. Trust your experience, your intuitions, never stop reading, do your homework, never settle, and be prepared to be wrong. Don’t be afraid—it’s all about the journey.

Previous Post

April 30, 2024

The Word is a Person

Next Post

May 4, 2024 Weaponizing the Bible

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Mary did have a choice. And she was able to make it before the Holy ..."

madalyn baumstark

Mary Got To Choose

"i cannot read beyond your recommendations for the books since i like to have a ..."

madalyn baumstark

A Doubting Faith

"AI will never be able to utter with honesty, feeling, or humility, the greeting: "Namaste".It ..."

madalyn baumstark

AI and Human Dignity

"They do. I'm sure you could find discussions of the same topic from any of ..."

Vance Morgan

AI and the Life of Faith

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Advent AI Angels Artificial intelligence atheism attention baptism Baptists beauty belief Benedictines Bible bicycling Big Bird books Bovina Camaldoli hermitage Canada Catholicism cats certainty change Christianity Christmas Collegeville Covid-19 creativity Development of Western Civilization dogs doubt Easter Enneagram Epiphany Episcopal ethics Eucharist evil extroverts Facebook faith family fear flowers forgiveness freedom friends God goodness grace happiness heaven hell history Holy Spirit Holy Week hope human nature humility humor idolatry incarnation introverts irreverence Islam Jeanne Jesus Joe Biden joy Judaism justice Kamala Harris knowledge Lent listen literature liturgy love Marsue Memorial Day miracles movies music mystery mythology NPR Old Testament optimism paradox peace Penguins philosophy piano podcast politics power prayer Protestantism Providence College Religion Rhode Island sabbatical sacrament science seeing silence Simone Weil Socrates soul sports St. John's College stories suffering tattoo teaching technology television theology thinking time tolerance transcendence travel trees trust truth Uncategorized Vermont wisdom wonder writing

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz