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

prayer

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

August 2022

August 20, 2022

Something More Powerful than Our Virtues

One of the habits that having a puppy in the house for the past ten...

August 07, 2022

This Book Changed My Life: Marilynne Robinson’s “Gilead”

I asked my Facebook friends a while ago to list three or four books that...

July 2022

July 27, 2022

The Shy Deer-Soul Inside of You

As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O...

June 2022

June 25, 2022

Why Christians Should Care About Their Bodies

In last Thursday's blog post, I wrote about how the problematic philosophical theory of dualism...

June 19, 2022

What To Do When It Isn’t Working

What do you do when it just isn’t working? In the life of a teacher,...

May 2022

May 24, 2022

Save Your Thoughts and Prayers. Do Something

Here we are again. Mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvaldi in the past few days,...

May 19, 2022

Making Darkness and Silence your Friends

Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again. “The Sound of Silence”...

May 14, 2022

A Story About Learning to See Things Differently

In a comment on last Thursday’s blog post—“God is Not a Vending Machine”—a Facebook friend...

May 11, 2022

God is Not a Vending Machine

My most recent blog post included some reflections from a recent student on what she...

May 04, 2022

Glad that Roe v. Wade is going to be overturned? You have sown the wind, and you will reap the whirlwind

I seldom jump into current events in this blog, simply because I don't want to...

April 2022

April 02, 2022

Martha or Mary? Type A or Type not-A?

The stereotype of the Type A personality has become an entrenched part of cultural lore....

March 2022

March 01, 2022

An Assignment for Lent: Learn the Difference Between Solitude and Being Alone

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to yourself. Michel...

February 2022

February 01, 2022

My Mistress and Me

At the beginning of the first seminar in my “Faith and Doubt” colloquium, I asked...

January 2022

January 30, 2022

Decorating the Dungeon

I am currently rereading Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway for one of my team-taught...

January 23, 2022

The Words of Our Mouths and the Meditation of Our Hearts

This past week I began a new course with a colleague from the Political Science...

January 06, 2022

The REAL Reason Why January 6th is Important

One year ago, a mob of insurrectionists stormed and temporarily occupied the U.S. Capitol building...

November 2021

November 20, 2021

Mansplaining in the Bible, and a Woman Who Overcame It

At a recent department meeting, our department chair wondered whether it might be good for...

September 2021

September 26, 2021

Sometimes, it just doesn’t matter

One day, Jeanne said “I want a fish.” This was a rather random request, but...

July 2021

July 12, 2021

A Portly Angel with a Boston Accent

Some have entertained angels unawares Hebrews 11:2 I’ve never known what to make of angels. I...

March 2021

March 23, 2021

Enough Already with the “Thoughts and Prayers.” They aren’t working.

So here we are again. Mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder in the last week,...

March 04, 2021

Praying with Alexa

I read a fascinating article in The Atlantic not long ago that explores the various ways...

February 2021

February 21, 2021

By the Light of the Moon: Thoughts on Reflective Faith

Shortly before the 2013 conclave that would elect him as Pope Francis I, then Cardinal...

January 2021

January 26, 2021

Liberal Christianity on the Rise

Last Saturday, the New York Times published a fascinating article by Elizabeth Dias called “In...

October 2020

October 18, 2020

When God Gives Us the Bird

I get myself in trouble on this blog occasionally, often deliberately. I know that most...

October 11, 2020

The Gospel According to Marilynne Robinson

This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it. Marilynne...

September 2020

September 10, 2020

Silence: The Best Answer to Prayer

I, as many people of faith, have often wondered why the divine is so apparently...

September 03, 2020

Love is the Discovery of Reality: A Story About Learning to See Things Differently

Iris Murdoch was one of the philosophers whose work was front and center in my...

August 2020

August 30, 2020

So You Want to be a Blogger? Here are some things I’ve learned over the past nine years.

Nine years ago today, I started this blog. The last three and a half of...

May 2020

May 30, 2020

A Pentecost Reflection: Sometimes Fast Food Isn’t Good Enough

Pentecost celebrates one of the high points in the Christian liturgical calendar, the coming of...

April 2020

April 26, 2020

Facing Coronavirus “What Ifs?”

The final week of the strangest academic semester of my life begins tomorrow. As I...

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