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

Protestantism

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 2026

February 18, 2026

An Ash Wednesday and Lenten Tale

Today is Ash Wednesday, which for a hardcore Protestant such as I presents several issues....

April 2025

April 06, 2025

A Poem for the Broken, Searching, and Human

In The Name I often describe myself as "poetry challenged." I usually need someone else...

May 2024

May 04, 2024

Weaponizing the Bible

The final meeting of my honors colloquium on Michel de Montaigne was last Thursday. It...

April 2024

April 28, 2024

Your Comfort Zone Is Not a Sacred Space

In an interview with CNN a few Easters ago, Barbara Brown Taylor said this about...

October 2023

October 07, 2023

Your Faith is Not Just About You

The Ten Commandments from the book of Exodus is the lectionary reading from the Jewish...

February 2023

February 22, 2023

A Tale of Ash Wednesday and Lent

One Wednesday last winter, the student in front of me in line at the little...

November 2022

November 29, 2022

Living the Social Gospel: Your faith is not just about you

In the interdisiplinary and team-taught honors course I am teaching in this academic year, we...

August 2022

August 25, 2022

Anniversary Week for “Freelance Christianity”: Here’s the #1 post in the past decade

This week marks the tenth anniversary of this blog--hard to believe! It has been on...

May 2022

May 26, 2022

Swallowing the Mystery

In her wonderful memoir Take This Bread, Sara Miles tells us of a conversation she had...

May 03, 2022

The Gospel According to Compost

Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that...

March 2022

March 07, 2022

A Stranger (Protestant) in a Strange Land (Catholic)

Last Wednesday the student in front of me in line at the little on campus...

December 2021

December 06, 2021

“On Earth as it is in Heaven”: Living the Social Gospel

At the end of the first of two semesters in the interdisiplinary and team-taught honors...

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...

February 2021

February 11, 2021

Stalking the Elusive God

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

October 2020

October 06, 2020

On Earth, as it is in Heaven: Why Faith is Always Political

Last Sunday, it was my turn to be lector at church. The reading from the...

September 2020

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 11, 2020

I’m not a Catholic, but I could play one on TV

Classes begin on my campus in three weeks. That, in the middle of a pandemic,...

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....

March 2020

March 31, 2020

Don’t Be Afraid to Die

Last Sunday was the Fifth Sunday of Lent; we are heading directly for Palm Sunday,...

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 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...

February 11, 2020

Spiritual Punctuation

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

November 2019

November 03, 2019

Noah and his Children: Bad News for White Evangelical Christians

“White evangelical Protestants (WEPs) are fully disrobed,” writes Michael Gerson, concluding that “the older generation...

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...

June 2019

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...

April 2019

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 05, 2019

From Living Stones to Spiritual Houses

The Bible is filled with rocks. The patriarchs pile rocks up every time they want...

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...

February 2019

February 10, 2019

What Can We Do Now That There Is No God?

Several weeks into the new year, I am for the first time getting to teach...

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