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

2026-03-15T08:55:26-04:00

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.

The Problem with Substituionary Atonement

Last updated on: March 15, 2026 at 8:55 am By Vance Morgan

0 Comments

I just returned yesterday from a wonderful week with Justin in Sweden! To get back in the blog post saddle after a week off, here’s a post from a couple of years ago that takes a look from a different angle at today’s gospel–The Prodigal Son. An alternative title for this essay might be “A Comedian Interprets the Parable of the Prodigal Son.” In the most recent “Faith for Normal People” podcast, “the other God-ordained podcast on the Internet” (Bible... Read more

2026-03-18T19:37:07-04:00

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 Biblical Wells Teach Us About the Unpredictable Divine

Last updated on: March 18, 2026 at 7:37 pm By Vance Morgan

0 Comments

Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12 In his collection of essays Breakfast at the Victory, James Carse writes about the spiritual lessons he learned when the water at his family’s rural New England cabin started tasting funny one summer. It turned out that the wooden cover over the cabin’s well had collapsed under the weight of a deer or a bear, and was polluting the water that fed the well. Carse’s essay explores, with some... Read more

2026-03-17T15:33:27-04:00

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.

I’m turning the big 7-0! Here are some thoughts . . .

Last updated on: March 17, 2026 at 3:33 pm By Vance Morgan

0 Comments

Today is my birthday, and it’s a big one. The big 7-0! My age has never been a big deal for me—as Jeanne always says, “It’s just a number.” But I’m 70 today . . . and that particular number has caught my attention. “70!!” I’ve been thinking over the past few weeks. “That’s really f—king old!” Old enough that I woke up a couple of weeks ago and thought, “I guess it’s time to start getting social security checks!”... Read more

2026-03-03T13:05:33-04:00

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.

Angels of Change

Last updated on: March 3, 2026 at 1:05 pm By Vance Morgan

0 Comments

All that you touch, you Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change. God Is Change These are the opening lines in “Earthseed: The Books of the Living,” a collection of notebooks compiled by Lauren Olamina, the main character in Octavia Butler’s dystopian, frighteningly believable vision of the near future, Parable of the Sower. Lauren is a late teen who lives inside a gated community with her Baptist preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from... Read more

2026-02-27T13:50:07-04:00

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.

God So Loved The World

Last updated on: February 27, 2026 at 1:50 pm By Vance Morgan

0 Comments

Today’s gospel reading gets us back to the basics. Sports fans old enough to remember the 70s and 80s will recall that a regular occurrence at baseball or football games either in person or on television was, when the camera panned the stands, to see a person—often wearing a colorful fright wig—holding up a large homemade poster board sign with a cryptic reference that made sense only for initiates: John 3:16. I often imagined the confusion that many might have... Read more

2026-02-26T10:21:06-04:00

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.

Be Like the Dunkers

Last updated on: February 26, 2026 at 10:21 am By Vance Morgan

0 Comments

Human beings never behave so badly as when they believe they are protecting God. Barbara Brown Taylor Every time someone claims that we live in a country founded on “Christian principles,” I think of Benjamin Franklin. His Autobiography is often a text at the appropriate time in the interdisciplinary program I teach in—it’s short, pithy, no nonsense and quintessentially American. Exactly what I would expect from Ben. He doesn’t say a lot about organized religion other than to express his distaste... Read more

Uncategorized

2026-02-22T07:45:22-04:00

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.

The Full Garden Story

Last updated on: February 22, 2026 at 7:45 am By Vance Morgan

0 Comments

Today is the first Sunday of Lent; the gospel reading is always one a treatment of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. This year we get Matthew’s version. But today I’m particularly interested in the first reading from the Jewish scriptures–an edited version of Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden from Genesis 2 and 3. It’s a story that lose some of its power if the whole context and narrative is not considered. I am not overstating the... Read more

2026-02-16T09:31:49-04:00

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.

An Ash Wednesday and Lenten Tale

Last updated on: February 16, 2026 at 9:31 am By Vance Morgan

0 Comments

Today is Ash Wednesday, which for a hardcore Protestant such as I presents several issues. One Wednesday, the student in front of me in line at the little on-campus coffee shop in the building next to mine plopped what looked like a pre-packaged chicken Caesar salad on the counter. While fumbling for her card to pay, the cashier said “that isn’t chicken, you know. It’s tofu.” “WHAT?” the student cried. “It’s Ash Wednesday. We aren’t allowed to serve meat on... Read more

2026-02-16T09:27:39-04:00

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.

The World Can Shine Like Transfiguration

Last updated on: February 16, 2026 at 9:27 am By Vance Morgan

0 Comments

Today is Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Each of the synoptic gospels, including today’s lectionary reading from Matthew, tells essentially the same story. Jesus takes his inner circle of Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain where suddenly Jesus has a conversation with Moses and Elijah, while “his face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white.” The disciples are understandably frightened, but Peter still suggests that... Read more

2026-02-12T00:35:37-04:00

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.

The National Prayer Breakfast Gets an Unexpected Visitor

Last updated on: February 12, 2026 at 12:35 am By Vance Morgan

0 Comments

The annual National Prayer Breakfast happened last week. I don’t know what happened or what was said, but I can’t get this imagined picture from Facebook out of my mind. My sincere apologies . . . Once when I was the scheduled lector at church, the reading from the Jewish scriptures for the day was from Isaiah 58–the same text that was the first reading this past Sunday. The opening lines were SHOUT OUT, DO NOT HOLD BACK! LIFT UP... Read more

Politics and Religion

Religion News

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Selah," found often in Psalms, likely mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sing loudly Give thanks Forever Pause or reflect

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