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Progressive Christian

2022-04-28T12:15:19-04:00

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.

When God Is Silent

Last updated on: April 28, 2022 at 12:15 pm By Vance Morgan

Every religion which does not confirm that God is hidden is not true. Blaise Pascal One of the most fascinating and troubling verses in the Jewish scriptures is from the book of Proverbs:. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, and the glory of kings to search it out.” I, as many people of faith, often wonder why the divine is so unavailable, so frequently silent. I, as many people of faith, have often assumed that this silence... Read more

2019-05-20T19:12:37-04:00

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.

Rise, Kill, and Eat: A Story About Learning to See Things Differently

Last updated on: May 20, 2019 at 7:12 pm By Vance Morgan

Iris Murdoch was one of the philosophers whose work was front and center in my upper division course in contemporary philosophy that ended a couple of weeks ago. She is a fascinating figure, an internationally respected philosopher who, at the height of her career, left academia to write novels full time. She ended up writing twenty-six of them, extraordinary investigations of the complexities and messiness of human relationships and commitments. Murdoch claimed to be an atheist, but she also believed... Read more

2019-05-18T16:18:35-04:00

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.

To the Graduates . . .

Last updated on: May 18, 2019 at 4:18 pm By Vance Morgan

Today is my college’s Commencement Day. I’ve been to more than thirty college graduation events, including the three when I got to walk across the stage and receive my degree. I have heard many Commencement addresses; the best was a dozen years or so ago from Tim Russert, while there is strong competition among several speakers for the worst. I will probably never have the chance to give a Commencement address myself–if I did, I would say something like this.... Read more

Development of Western Civilization

2019-05-15T17:43:55-04:00

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.

Scottish Sheep are Waterproof, and other takeaways from Good Shepherd Sunday

Last updated on: May 15, 2019 at 5:43 pm By Vance Morgan

One of my prized possessions, purchased when Jeanne and I on vacation last June in Scotland, is a Harris Tweed wool cap. I bought it in a small shop in Oban, a beautiful port on the west coast of Scotland that is the gateway to the Hebrides islands (where they make Islay scotch, the real reason we went to Scotland in the first place). I wear this cap to work frequently, and am pleased to report that I have managed... Read more

2019-05-13T23:08:39-04:00

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.

Are Evangelical Christians Discriminated Against? The Dangers of Tribal Christianity

Last updated on: May 13, 2019 at 11:08 pm By Vance Morgan

Last week, a Christianity Today article reported that “Half of Americans Say Evangelicals are Discriminated Against.” www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/april/evangelicals-face-discrimination-pew-research-antisemitism.html Sigh. I always appreciate being reminded that evangelical Christians believe that they are the most persecuted majority in history, constituted by people who can’t tell the difference between disagreement and discrimination. What evangelical Christians actually are is a prime example of how faith can turn into defensive tribalism. This is something that one of my favorite Christian apologists, Marilynne Robinson, is acutely attuned to. The recently... Read more

2022-05-07T16:13:45-04:00

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.

A Mother’s Day Remembrance: Her Children Rise Up and Call Her Blessed

Last updated on: May 7, 2022 at 4:13 pm By Vance Morgan

I once learned something interesting about giraffes from one of my colleagues. He was lecturing on Roman art and architecture; when discussing the Coliseum, he mentioned that Roman audiences loved to watch novelty battles—between a woman and a dwarf, or a dog and a porcupine for instance. The voracious Roman appetite for more and more exotic beasts and contests produced a variety of combatants from all corners of the empire, including elephants, apes, the great cats, and rhinoceroses. And giraffes.... Read more

2019-05-08T07:40:44-04:00

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.

I’ll Remember You

Last updated on: May 8, 2019 at 7:40 am By Vance Morgan

There is no greatness where there is no goodness, simplicity, or truth Leo Tolstoy Although Jeanne and I have lived in our house since 1996, there has never been a time when some portion of the house hasn’t been under revision, ranging in seriousness from furniture arrangement through a new coat of paint to knocking down walls and starting over again. Our largest project, transforming the basement into livable space, was a three-year process that turned out to be about ten times... Read more

2019-05-06T21:39:08-04:00

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.

Why Did Jesus Like Little Children So Much?

Last updated on: May 6, 2019 at 9:39 pm By Vance Morgan

One of the stories that was emphasized regularly in the Baptist Sunday school of my youth was Jesus’s apparent love of children from Matthew’s gospel. Matthew provides a couple of vignettes in back-to-back chapters that often get conflated. In response to the ubiquitous, “adult” questions about who is going to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus uses a kid for a “show-and-tell” moment. Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter... Read more

2022-04-25T10:08:23-04:00

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.

In Honor of Rachel Held Evans

Last updated on: April 25, 2022 at 10:08 am By Vance Morgan

As millions of others, I was saddened by the devastating news yesterday of the death of Rachel Held Evans. I am a relative latecomer to her work, but it has had a significant impact on me over the past couple of years. In honor of her brilliant writing and beautiful life, I offer the following essay from a year and a half ago, inspired by reading her books. Discovering a new author is one of my favorite things–it frequently happens... Read more

Angels

rachel held evans

2019-05-02T06:14:43-04:00

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.

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

Last updated on: May 2, 2019 at 6:14 am By Vance Morgan

During the last seminar of the semester in one of my classes this week, my students and I had a fascinating, wide-ranging conversation about why people (including all of the students present) strongly believe some version of “everything happens for a reason” to be true. Our conversation took me back to various aspects of my youth. I grew up in the world of evangelical Christianity, and have spent much of my adult life grappling with it, ultimately embracing and being... Read more

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