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

Baptists

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

February 2020

February 11, 2020

Spiritual Punctuation

In my life-long spiritual journey, the decade of my twenties was the charismatic decade. No,...

February 08, 2020

The Gospel at Gun-Point

In the religious world of my youth and adolescence, Billy Graham was a rock star....

January 2020

January 16, 2020

Best of 2019 #3: When Christianity Becomes an Angry and Fearful Faith

Last June, I used essays by Michael Gerson and Marilynne Robinson to explore what happens...

January 09, 2020

The Best of 2019 #4: The Dangers of Tribal Christianity

Last May, I wrote about the often-made claim from evangelical Christians that they are the...

November 2019

November 19, 2019

Don’t Worry, Be Hopeful . . . and Get to Work

In the liturgical cycle, we are headed toward a new year that begins on the...

November 17, 2019

White Privilege and Jesus

In my General Ethics class, my students and I have just finished a three week...

October 2019

October 29, 2019

Halloween is coming: Time to Exorcise a Couple of Jesus Imposters

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

October 20, 2019

A Question for Atheists and Theists: How Much Evidence is “Enough”?

This past week I started a unit in my General Ethics students called “Does God...

September 2019

September 26, 2019

Lessons learned from a “glow in the dark” cross

In one of the many books written by an atheist about Christianity over the past...

September 08, 2019

Reason Touched By Grace: Getting Faith and Intellect on the Same Page

A few days ago, Pete Buttigeig, mayor of South Bend and candidate for the Democratic...

September 03, 2019

What Lies About God Do You Believe?

In Lies We Believe Abut God, Wm. Paul Young (author of The Shack) tells the story of...

August 2019

August 11, 2019

This is Just Too Weird: Dealing with Inconvenient Truths from the Gospels

During the three years that I lived in Milwaukee while completing my Ph.D. studies at...

July 2019

July 16, 2019

The Bible is Not the Word of God. Unless . . .

Frequently, my conservative commenters suggest I will be immediately straightened out if I just “read...

July 07, 2019

What Are We Doing When We Pray?

I am currently in the middle of working through the proofs of my forthcoming book,...

July 02, 2019

Superhero Theology

I think that a lot of people stop taking their birthdays seriously after a certain...

June 2019

June 29, 2019

It’s My Life, and I’ll Die When I Want To

If you got to choose the manner of your death, what would your choice be?...

June 27, 2019

What Happens After You Die Isn’t That Important

A conversation involving a bunch of guys at a sports bar waiting for the big...

June 13, 2019

What My Father Taught Me About Reading and Belief

One of the most important tasks that an author has to face when a book...

May 2019

May 02, 2019

Does Everything Happen for a Reason? I don’t think so

During the last seminar of the semester in one of my classes this week, my...

April 2019

April 30, 2019

Come Holy Goose

According to the reading from John’s gospel at church a couple of days ago, one...

April 24, 2019

Getting Jesus Out of the Tomb (and keeping him out)

During his Easter Sunday homily, my friend Mitch—the rector of the Episcopal church I attend—told...

April 16, 2019

Is the Time of Religion Over?

What is bothering me incessantly is the question of what Christianity really is, or indeed...

March 2019

March 19, 2019

God Said It. I Believe It. That Settles It.

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

March 17, 2019

Why I Am Done Trying to Prove the Existence of God

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

March 05, 2019

Partnering with God (even when one isn’t sure who or what God is)

A Jewish friend of mine told me a number of years ago that Judaism is...

December 2018

December 16, 2018

Joseph: An Awesome Stepfather with a Questionable Pedigree

In my religious tradition, we didn’t do saints. But we did do Christmas pageants—big time....

December 11, 2018

Advent is for Introverts

I was raised in a version of Christianity that had no sense of the liturgical...

December 06, 2018

Does the Word of God Settle Everything?

I recently had a brief, unproductive exchange in the comment section of this blog with...

November 2018

November 23, 2018

Black Friday and the War on Christmas

Today is Black Friday, the unfortunate beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Apparently in service...

October 2018

October 31, 2018

Halloween Jesus or Fire-Insurance Policy Jesus?

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

Related posts from Freelance Christianity

Progressive Christian

The Lonely Pawn: On Faith, Doubt, and Meaning

Freelance Christianity

Progressive Christian

AI and Agency

Freelance Christianity

Progressive Christian

AI and Love: When a Chatbot Becomes a...

Freelance Christianity

Progressive Christian

AI and Transcendence

Freelance Christianity

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In

Follow Patheos