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Progressive Christian

2019-04-08T16:31:26-04:00

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.

Remembering What Matters Most

Last updated on: April 8, 2019 at 4:31 pm By Vance Morgan

The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper. I cannot quite make it out. Annie Dillard The past few days have been very disorienting. A bit over a week week ago, Jeanne and I were in a serious automobile accident. The car was totaled, but we walked away with only a few bumps and bruises. Those who have seen pictures of the accident and our demolished car have frequently remarked that God protected us, that Big Bird (Jeanne’s... Read more

2022-08-19T15:56:44-04:00

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 am a Liberal Because I am a Christian

Last updated on: August 19, 2022 at 3:56 pm By Vance Morgan

Over the past several years, I have found myself in frequent conversations with conservative Christians, most frequently on this blog, about a number of different issues. These conversations often are focused on the practical implications of the Christian faith—how might one expect one’s Christian faith to work out in real time? For instance, what sorts of political and social positions might a serious Christian faith lead one to? As you might imagine, these conversations have been interesting, to say the... Read more

2019-04-04T08:27:20-04:00

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.

From Living Stones to Spiritual Houses

Last updated on: April 4, 2019 at 8:27 am By Vance Morgan

The Bible is filled with rocks. The patriarchs pile rocks up every time they want to remember a place where they encountered the transcendent. Moses strikes rocks twice, once in obedience and once in anger, to produce water for the thirsty and complaining Israelites. David drops Goliath with a stone thrown from a sling. Satan tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread and have something to eat. And so on. I’m sure there’s a dissertation on Biblical rocks in there for... Read more

2019-03-29T13:17:38-04:00

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.

Faith By the Skin of Your Teeth

Last updated on: March 29, 2019 at 1:17 pm By Vance Morgan

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully. As she waited for the ceremony to begin in Jerusalem, Magda Trocmé might have remembered these lines from Psalm 24. This is a psalm of “ascent,” sung by ancient pilgrims as they climbed to Solomon’s great temple at the top... Read more

2019-03-29T13:18:02-04:00

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.

Jesus and April Fools’ Day

Last updated on: March 29, 2019 at 1:18 pm By Vance Morgan

IT’S APRIL FOOLS’ DAY–A PERFECT TIME FOR SOME IRREVERENCE! One of my unexpected reading delights in the past few years has been discovering the writings of Anne Lamott. In her struggles with faith, she is equally intense in both her relentless pursuit of the transcendent and her irreverence. In Bird by Bird, she writes that “the mind frequently has its head up its own ass—seeing things in such a narrow and darkly narcissistic way that it presents a colorectal theology, offering hope... Read more

2019-03-29T13:25:19-04:00

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.

Sports Fanaticism as Spiritual Practice

Last updated on: March 29, 2019 at 1:25 pm By Vance Morgan

Last Saturday, Jeanne was out of town for work, and I had a choice to make about what channel to tune to on the television as I accomplished various tasks in the house. The word was out that Attorney General Barr would be sending a summary of the Mueller Report to Congress by the end of the day, and the talking heads on MSNBC (and everywhere else) were having a collective cow, starting early in the morning. It was also... Read more

2019-03-28T06:16:24-04:00

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.

What Goes Down . . . Must Come Back Up

Last updated on: March 28, 2019 at 6:16 am By Vance Morgan

Today’s Psalm invited us to go to the mountain of the Lord–which reminded me of a hill-climbing event that I wrote about when on retreat not that long ago . . . PREPARATION “Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord,” asked Psalm 24 at Vigils this morning. Psalm 24 is a “Psalm of Ascent,” one of a group of songs scattered throughout the Psalms that scholars tell us were sung by pilgrims as they ascended the hill to Solomon’s... Read more

2019-03-22T19:49:25-04:00

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.

Complicated Truths and the Challenge of Being Good

Last updated on: March 22, 2019 at 7:49 pm By Vance Morgan

Once many years ago, a couple I was close friends with was having marital problems. For the first (and only) time in my life, I found myself frequently playing the role of telephone confessor and therapist for each of them—I’m quite sure that neither was aware that I was doing this with the other. The phone calls became so frequent that one evening as I talked to the male in the relationship, the woman beeped in on call waiting. Toward the... Read more

2019-03-22T20:47:11-04:00

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.

Oysters, Ballerinas, and a Reminder that No One Owns God

Last updated on: March 22, 2019 at 8:47 pm By Vance Morgan

There are several contemporary writers on spiritual issues and matters of faith whose work I admire so greatly I that purchase their latest books as soon as they are published—I have my Amazon account set up to send me such “heads up” announcements. These are authors whose books never fail to both deepen and broaden my own perspectives and attitudes about faith and what is greater than me. The list includes Anne Lamott, Joan Chittister, Annie Dillard, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Lauren... Read more

2019-03-16T11:47:28-04:00

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.

The GOATs of the Western Tradition

Last updated on: March 16, 2019 at 11:47 am By Vance Morgan

The beautiful Ruane Center for the Humanities on our campus opened in the Fall of 2013, a home, among other things, for the large interdisciplinary, team-taught course required of all freshmen and sophomores regardless of their major. The four-semester, sixteen-credit course is the Development of Western Civilization program, usually called DWC or just “Civ” by the students and faculty. I was director of this program from 2011-15, at any given time in charge of 75-80 faculty and 1800+ students as I... Read more

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