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Progressive Christian

2018-05-07T20:13:05-04:00

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 Lord Be With You . . .

Last updated on: May 7, 2018 at 8:13 pm By Vance Morgan

What is the best way to get the attention of a bunch of Episcopalians? I learned the answer to this question well over thirty years ago when, after my first Sunday morning Episcopal worship service, I found myself downstairs in what they called the “undercroft” for coffee hour. There were at least fifty people gathered, eating pastries, drinking coffee, some smoking cigarettes (of all things)–the noise of conversation was deafening. Then the Dean of the cathedral entered the room and... Read more

2018-05-10T16:23:49-04:00

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 Christians Get Wrong About Jesus

Last updated on: May 10, 2018 at 4:23 pm By Vance Morgan

Historical Christianity has fallen into the error that corrupts all attempts to communicate religion . . . It has dwelt, it dwells, with noxious exaggeration about the person of Jesus. Ralph Waldo Emerson On July 5, 1838, in the middle of what he called “this refulgent summer,” during which “it has been a luxury to draw the breath of life,” thirty-five-year-old Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered what has come to be known as his “Divinity School Address” to the graduating class of the... Read more

2018-05-03T08:54:51-04:00

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.

One Nation, Under God?

Last updated on: May 3, 2018 at 8:54 am By Vance Morgan

I was invited earlier this week by an online publication that I write for occasionally to submit an essay with the tentative title “America is not a Christian country, and that’s a good thing.” The idea for the essay came from this passage in Marilynne Robinson’s recent essay “A Proof, a Text, and Instruction”: Those who invoke the idea of a “real America” would like to import a problem history has so far spared us. Take just the assertion that... Read more

2018-05-01T06:43:04-04:00

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.

Taking a Moral Holiday

Last updated on: May 1, 2018 at 6:43 am By Vance Morgan

So here we are, a year and a half since Donald Trump was elected President. It seems like an eternity—time apparently only flies when you are having fun. Since November 2016, there has been no end of unsolicited advice from all parts of the political and religious spectrum for those who, as I, have struggled both to process what has happened and, more importantly, how to approach the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. I have, for instance, been told... Read more

2018-04-26T06:06:22-04:00

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.

White Privilege and the Gospels

Last updated on: April 26, 2018 at 6:06 am By Vance Morgan

In my General Ethics class, my students and I have just finished a three week unit on race issues. Although the college I teach at has made great strides toward diversifying the student body and faculty over the past decade, this particular class reminds me of how much more work there is to do. Of my twenty-five students, only two are persons of color–the rest are as white as I am. Accordingly, I began our considerations of race and related... Read more

2018-04-24T06:17:46-04:00

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 A$$hole Saint

Last updated on: April 24, 2018 at 6:17 am By Vance Morgan

I come from a hardcore Protestant world, a world in which we did not do “saints.” Even though I have spent much of my adult life, first as a graduate student, then as a professor, in Catholic higher education, I am still somewhat confused by and uncomfortable with the very notion of “sainthood.” I resonate positively with one of the main characters in Albert Camus’ The Plague who, when described as a “saint” by another character, responds that “sanctity doesn’t really appeal... Read more

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2018-04-22T06:51:59-04:00

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.

How Do I Get There?–A Reflection for Good Shepherd Sunday

Last updated on: April 22, 2018 at 6:51 am By Vance Morgan

Tomorrow is "Good Shepherd Sunday," including the 23rd Psalm--a text so familiar that it is easy to ignore its focus on one of the most pressing questions each of us has to face: What path in life should I follow? Read more

2018-04-19T12:40:36-04:00

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 Liberal and a Christian Walk Into a Bar . . .

Last updated on: April 19, 2018 at 12:40 pm By Vance Morgan

Not long ago, The Atlantic published an article by Emma Green entitled “Democrats Have a Religion Problem,” consisting largely of an interview with Michael Wear, author of Reclaiming Hope and a former director of former President Obama’s faith-outreach initiative in 2012. The Atlantic: Democrats have a religion problem The article begins by pointing out that Democrats, once again, have proven themselves to be illiterate, ignorant, and clueless concerning religion and persons of faith, given President Trump’s garnering of 81% of... Read more

2018-04-15T15:04:51-04:00

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 Best Story Ever

Last updated on: April 15, 2018 at 3:04 pm By Vance Morgan

In the aftermath of Easter, Christians often enjoy retelling various stories about Jesus from the New Testament. “But they are just stories,” the skeptics say, no different than the myths and legends of Greek mythology or the tales of King Arthur, similar to the way in which those who wish to dismiss Darwin say that his theory of natural selection is “just a theory.”But sometimes a theory is more than just an educated guess, and sometimes a story is more... Read more

2018-04-15T06:51:32-04:00

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.

“Give Unto Caesar”: It’s an Expression of Love

Last updated on: April 15, 2018 at 6:51 am By Vance Morgan

A recent edition of The New Yorker had a timely cartoon on the back page. Two mourners are at a funeral home standing in front of the recently deceased’s open coffin. In the coffin is the Grim Reaper, complete with black hood and skeletal hands clutching his scythe. The caption reads: “I was hoping taxes would go first.” But they didn’t, and tax day is upon us. Actually, we are fortunate because April 15th falls on a Sunday this year,... Read more

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