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

2018-12-23T19:44:37-04:00

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.

Christus Natus Est

Last updated on: December 23, 2018 at 7:44 pm By Vance Morgan

Christmas movies are a big deal at my house. Jeanne goes for the classics, such as “Miracle on 34th Street,” “The Bishop’s Wife,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and (her favorite) “White Christmas.” Those are all fine (except “White Christmas,” which I can take or leave), but I tend to favor more recent ones, like “The Holiday” and (my favorite) “The Nativity Story.” Movies with Biblical themes were both attractive and problematic in my early years. We did not go to movies,... Read more

2018-12-19T10:24:57-04:00

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.

Mary with No Assumptions

Last updated on: December 19, 2018 at 10:24 am By Vance Morgan

I have a colleague and friend with whom I share a lot in common. Eric and I are both “Johnnies,” graduates of the St. John’s College Great Books curriculum (he graduated a few years before I did back in the 1970s). We share the same scholarly interests; he was an outside reader on one of my books, as I was on one of his a few years later. And we are both hardcore Protestants. Eric is an ordained Presbyterian minister who... Read more

2018-12-21T14:22:08-04:00

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.

Advent 101: Making Advent a Season of Recentering

Last updated on: December 21, 2018 at 2:22 pm By Vance Morgan

We seek retreats for ourselves in country places, on beaches and mountains . . . but that is altogether unenlightened when it is possible at any hour you please to find a retreat within yourself. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Most people think of Advent within a religious context, the annual month-long season of introspection, inwardness, quietness, and hope that anticipates the nativity and the Incarnation. But there is secular value to Advent as well, particularly in the middle of pre-Christmas insanity surrounding shopping,... Read more

2018-12-21T12:58:24-04:00

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.

An Advent Reboot

Last updated on: December 21, 2018 at 12:58 pm By Vance Morgan

2018-12-17T16:40:29-04:00

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 Season of Grace and Peace

Last updated on: December 17, 2018 at 4:40 pm By Vance Morgan

Grace means suddenly you’re in a different universe from the one where you were stuck, and there was absolutely no way for you get there on you own. Anne Lamott A few years ago, Jeanne surprised me for Father’s Day by taking me to a concert in Maryland by one of my favorite musicians. I discovered Fernando Ortega’s music three or four years ago after plugging the name of one of the few Christian artists I can stand into Pandora. After... Read more

2018-12-14T14:39:48-04:00

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.

Joseph: An Awesome Stepfather with a Questionable Pedigree

Last updated on: December 14, 2018 at 2:39 pm By Vance Morgan

In my religious tradition, we didn’t do saints. But we did do Christmas pageants—big time. I remember in various pageants being an angel, a wise man, a shepherd—all of the usual male roles. My most triumphant pageant appearance, though, was the year I got to be Joseph. Wearing a white dish towel on my head secured with a bathrobe belt, I gazed with a holy aspect at the plastic headed Jesus in the make-shift manger while the narrator read the... Read more

2018-12-13T07:50:31-04:00

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.

Did Jesus Ever Say “I’m Sorry”?

Last updated on: December 13, 2018 at 7:50 am By Vance Morgan

A popular Christian writer got herself in trouble not long ago by suggesting on Twitter that most Christians have a hard time with texts in the Gospels that clearly show Jesus to be fully human. The specific passage she had in mind was Mark’s account of Jesus’ interaction with a Syrophoenician woman who asks Jesus to cast an “unclean spirit” out of her daughter. Jesus first refuses, saying that he does not intend to give his children’s (Jews’) bread to... Read more

2018-12-10T10:10:41-04:00

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.

Advent is for Introverts

Last updated on: December 10, 2018 at 10:10 am By Vance Morgan

I was raised in a version of Christianity that had no sense of the liturgical year. I have often described the landmarks of my Baptist youth as Christmas, Easter, and everything else. I knew nothing of Advent until my twenties, and loved its energy, its carols, its texts–it still is my favorite liturgical season decades later. Inwardness, reflection, anticipation, and patience–Advent is for introverts. Many of my best Advent memories are related to music. Charles Harlan Clarke was the organist... Read more

2018-12-08T20:54:27-04:00

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.

Banging on the Door of Hope

Last updated on: December 8, 2018 at 8:54 pm By Vance Morgan

We’ve all done this, we bang and bang on the door of hope, and don’t anyone dare suggest there’s nobody home. Barbara Kingsolver I recently finished reading Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel, Unsheltered. One of the first full-length, fictional treatments of what it’s been like to live in the cognitive and social dissonance that has accompanied the rise and presidency of Donald Trump, it is not one of my favorites of her many novels (The Poisonwood Bible remains my favorite). Unsheltered... Read more

2018-12-06T08:30:21-04:00

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 the Word of God Settle Everything?

Last updated on: December 6, 2018 at 8:30 am By Vance Morgan

I recently had a brief, unproductive exchange in the comment section of this blog with a Christian who, among other things, accused me of not believing that the Bible is the Word of God. As we exchanged comments, I felt a certain deja vu–I felt that I was conversing with someone from my past. I was raised in a version of Christianity in which, for all intents and purposes, we worshipped the Bible as God’s inerrant Word and God’s final... Read more

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet was commanded to buy a field during a siege?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Obadiah Isaiah Habakkuk Jeremiah

Books by This Author Books by Vance G. Morgan

See All Titles »

Browse Our Archives

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

TRENDING AT PATHEOS Progressive Christian