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Progressive Christian

2025-04-01T06:53:06-04:00

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.

April Fools Day and Irreverence

Last updated on: April 1, 2025 at 6:53 am By Vance Morgan

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IT’S APRIL FOOLS DAY–A PERFECT TIME FOR SOME IRREVERENCE! One of my continuing reading delights is anything written by 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 to no one.” The phrase truly... Read more

2025-03-31T11:23:54-04:00

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 Frieda the Dog Taught Me About Personhood

Last updated on: March 31, 2025 at 11:23 am By Vance Morgan

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Be a Person Masterpiece Theater recently began a several week production of The Mirror and the Light, the final entry in a trilogy of novels by Hilary Mantel about Thomas Cromwell, the consigliere and fixer for Henry VIII. Cromwell is the son of a blacksmith, a violent and abusive father whom Cromwell flees as a young teenager. Over many years as a soldier, a merchant, and ultimately a self-made lawyer, Cromwell begins to make his presence known at court through... Read more

General Christian

Family, Parenting and Religion

2025-03-27T21:12:15-04:00

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 Return to the Problem of Evil–Part Two

Last updated on: March 27, 2025 at 9:12 pm By Vance Morgan

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After a week off from classes for spring break, I jumped back into the problem of evil with one of my ethics classes bright and early the first day back. We conidered one possible way to address the problem of evil. The problem of evil arises when one assumes the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence of God while also observing the evil and suffering that is rampant in our world. Traditional approaches start with the assumptions about God then seek to... Read more

2025-03-26T09:33:34-04:00

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.

Lazarus and the Call to Die Before You Die

Last updated on: March 26, 2025 at 9:33 am By Vance Morgan

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Die Before You Die Yesterday afternoon I participated in a “Post-Sabbatical Presentation” event on campus along with colleagues from the mathematics, history, English, and theology departments. One of the duties of faculty returning from a sabbatical semester or year is to provide a brief (10-15 minute) overview of what they accomplished on sabbatical. It’s sort of the academic version of the grade school “What I did on summer vacation” event. My main accomplishment while on sabbatical during the Fall 2023... Read more

General Christian

History and Religion

2025-03-24T11:17:02-04:00

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.

Can Goodness Survive in a World Full of Evil?

Last updated on: March 24, 2025 at 11:17 am By Vance Morgan

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Considering the Problem of Goodness During the early years of my career, I developed the habit of teaching at least one overload course per semester in my college’s evening program. The immediate reason for taking on the extra course was entirely mercenary—new professors don’t make a lot and we needed the money. Teaching in the evening school provides unique challenges. The typical evening course has an eclectic group of students, ranging from day students who either are trying to earn... Read more

goodness

2025-03-20T19:09:35-04:00

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.

Sports Fanaticism and the Life of Faith

Last updated on: March 20, 2025 at 7:09 pm By Vance Morgan

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Today is day two of the four best sports days of the year. The first Thursday through Sunday of March Madness provides a college basketball orgy for those of us who plan our calendars accordingly. Fortunately for me, I am not in class on Fridays. I will be doing my work from home with CBS affiliated stations on from noon until close to midnight. Obsessive? Yes. “Fan” is short for “Fanatic”–enough said. You ask,Why sports in general and college basketball... Read more

2025-03-16T15:16:49-04:00

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.

Goodness in the Midst of Evil

Last updated on: March 16, 2025 at 3:16 pm By Vance Morgan

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Regular readers of this blog know that Jeanne and I are incurable readers of mystery novels, preferably by authors who write continuing series that develop central and tangential characters from novel to novel. Our current obsession is the Bruno, Chief of Police series by Martin Walker. The series is set in a small town in southwestern France; the series is well-written, contains compelling characters, and introduces the reader to a cultural and culinary world that Jeanne and I are completely... Read more

2025-03-16T07:27:13-04:00

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.

Lent: Walking on the Downslope of God

Last updated on: March 16, 2025 at 7:27 am By Vance Morgan

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I’ve made a big deal over the dozen-plus years of this blog’s existence of why Lent is my least favorite liturgical season. How I washed the ashes off my forehead immediately after leaving my first Ash Wednesday service in my twenties. How Lent often turns into a season of performance art–look how holy I can be for 40 days. But not this year–Lent seems very appropriate this time around. In a recent episode of her podcast “Everything Happens,” Kate Bowler... Read more

2025-03-13T14:31:13-04:00

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 Return to the Problem of Evil–Part One

Last updated on: March 13, 2025 at 2:31 pm By Vance Morgan

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This week is Spring Break at my college–a week I am using to catch up on rest, grading, and to plan for the second half of the semester. In one of my ethics classes we ended with a cliffhanger in our last class just before break. We are in the early classes of a unit called “Does Ethics Have Anything to Do with God?”; the text for the day was an interview between a theist philosopher and an atheist philosopher.... Read more

2025-03-10T13:57:58-04:00

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 Does “Conversion” Mean?

Last updated on: March 10, 2025 at 1:57 pm By Vance Morgan

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Conversion is an odd phenomenon. I’ve often observed that those who convert, who ”tum around” radically in some aspect of their lives, tend to embrace their newly adopted beliefs and behaviors with a sense of urgency and commitment that can border on fanaticism. Thus those who quit smoking become front line enforcers in the “No Smoking” brigade, those who cut caffeine (or sugar, or anything significant) out of their diet will regale those of us who have not quit with... Read more

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