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April 2021

April 10, 2021

Faith and Doubt Go Hand in Hand

The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty Anne Lamott I am currently in...

March 2021

March 29, 2021

A Holy Week Reflection: Faith is More Important than Doctrine

Holy Week is upon us once again—as good a time as any to step back...

March 14, 2021

Returning to the Basics

Today's lectionary texts take us back to the basics. Sports fans old enough to remember...

February 2021

February 11, 2021

Stalking the Elusive God

One of the many things I enjoy about the teaching profession is creating new courses....

February 04, 2021

The Best of 2020 #1: The Coronavirus, the Apocalypse, and The Book of Revelation

It is not surprising, given what 2020 was like, that the most viewed post on...

January 2021

January 15, 2021

White Privilege on Parade

In the days that have passed since the January 6th seditionist attack on the U....

January 07, 2021

The Best of 2020 #5: Leaving Jesusland . . . For Good

For the next several Thursdays, I will be reposting my top blog posts of 2020,...

December 2020

December 12, 2020

Beauty for Ashes: Accepting the Call of Advent

Two weeks ago, I gave the First Sunday of Advent sermon at Trinity Episcopal Church...

December 08, 2020

It Isn’t True Just Because You Believe It. There Is No Immaculate Perception

I have taught philosophy in Catholic higher education for thirty years as a non-Catholic. Although...

November 2020

November 28, 2020

The Message of Advent: Stay Awake!

I have the privilege of giving the sermon for the First Sunday of Advent, at...

November 14, 2020

Don’t Make Me Come Down There

As is the case with many of the things in my life, my knowledge of...

November 10, 2020

Hope: The Thing with Feathers

During his first speech as the new President-elect last Saturday evening, Joe Biden quoted lines...

November 01, 2020

Being a Person Rather than a Saint

Today is “All Saints Day. I come from a hardcore Protestant world, a world in which...

October 2020

October 29, 2020

Exorcising the Ghosts of Jesus Past

One Sunday, toward the end of a particularly lively and deep seminar with my “Living...

October 16, 2020

Don’t Read the Constitution like Literalists Read the Bible

Not long ago, I found myself involved behind the scenes in a squabble between the...

September 2020

September 20, 2020

WTF Is This??–A story about change

Organized religion often is a source of packaged answers and comfortable solutions to important questions...

September 08, 2020

Living On the Edges of the Christian Circus Tent

Jeanne and I celebrated our 32nd anniversary in July—the gifts we gave each other are...

August 2020

August 19, 2020

When the Bible is Not the Word of God

This month marks the eighth anniversary of this blog. It started on Wordpress as an...

August 13, 2020

Leaving Jesusland . . . for good

I make no secret, on this blog or in person, of my love for Canada....

August 04, 2020

What if God Doesn’t Want to be Found?

Summer is a time for catching up on my non-philosophy reading and finding new authors....

June 2020

June 30, 2020

I’m White, I’m Privileged, and I’m a Christian. Now What?

During the past month, in the context of protests for racial justice and police reform...

June 16, 2020

Confronting the Sin of Certainty

If you think you understand it, it is not God. Soren Kierkegaard In Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer...

June 07, 2020

Celebrating Life in Difficult Times: Some Thoughts on Trinity Sunday

It’s Trinity Sunday. Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to explain that very strange...

April 2020

April 16, 2020

Faith in a Time of Doubt and Uncertainty

The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty Anne Lamott We are currently living...

April 11, 2020

New Life is for Real: A Childhood Easter Tale

Several years ago, just in time for the Christmas holiday season, a new book by Sarah...

March 2020

March 24, 2020

Visions of (the) Rapture Now Burst On My Sight

Perfect submission, perfect delight, Visions of rapture now burst on my sight; Angels, descending, bring...

March 18, 2020

The Coronavirus, the Apocalypse, and the Book of Revelation

There is something appropriate about teaching a course named “Apocalypse” in the middle of world...

March 11, 2020

The Gospel in a Nutshell

Sports fans old enough to remember the 70s and 80s will recall that a regular...

March 02, 2020

God Is Doing the Best that God Can Do

Frank Tupper, an important Baptist theologian who argued that God is in control of very...

February 2020

February 26, 2020

What I Learned When I Visited Cuba

Cuba and Fidel Castro are in the news, as Bernie Sanders seeks to explain why...

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