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Progressive Christian

2024-02-04T12:37:18-04:00

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 We Trust Each Other? A Reflection on Human Nature

Last updated on: February 4, 2024 at 12:37 pm By Vance Morgan

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The other day upon returning from her early morning visit to the gym, the first thing Jeanne said was “I was listening to an episode of ‘Throughline’ on the radio that you will love! It’s all about the problem of evil—they were just starting to talk about Hobbes when I got home!” Not many people’s spouses get excited about conversations that focus on 17th century English philosophers, but she knows me well. We listened to the podcast together later the... Read more

2024-01-30T15:26:40-04:00

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.

Is Religion a Virus?

Last updated on: January 30, 2024 at 3:26 pm By Vance Morgan

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The last time I was a member of a search committee for a new tenure track faculty member in my department, I found the response to the college’s mission statement (required of all semifinalist candidates) to be particularly interesting. The candidate wrote that “A dear friend and colleague with whom I shared an office for many years once confided in me that he could hardly believe that I was really religious, for I seemed like such a reasonable man. ‘And... Read more

2024-01-29T22:03:27-04:00

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.

What Sort of Bubble Do You Live In?

Last updated on: January 29, 2024 at 10:03 pm By Vance Morgan

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In my last post I wrote about being comfortable in my own skin as an introvert. I was reminded while writing that being comfortable in my own skin is a relatively new phenomenon in my life. I remember clearly when while away from home on sabbatical fifteen years days ago Jeanne told me during our daily phone call about a conversation with a mutual close friend that she had on the phone a couple of days earlier. “How is Vance... Read more

2024-01-26T15:37:54-04:00

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.

Enneagrams, Personality Tests, and the Virtues of Elitism

Last updated on: January 26, 2024 at 3:37 pm By Vance Morgan

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A bit over a year ago at my brother-in-law’s wake, I spent several minutes chatting with my niece-in-law Danielle’s husband Matt (which I guess makes Matt my nephew-in-law-in-law–Danielle and Matt are expecting their first child in a few weeks). He was sitting quietly in a seat in the back row of chairs while just about everyone else was working the room. It struck me that sitting quietly with Matt was a good idea. We often gravitate toward each other whenever... Read more

2024-01-24T16:01:48-04:00

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.

God Isn’t Angry At Us

Last updated on: January 24, 2024 at 4:01 pm By Vance Morgan

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A former student who wrote for our campus student newspaper once asked me during an interview for the paper what, after many years of teaching introductory ethics courses, would be my one-sentence summary of the moral life. As I described in a post a few months ago, my immediate response was “Don’t Be A Dick,” quickly changed to “Don’t Be A Jerk.” The Moral Life in One Sentence This past week as I scrolled through my Facebook feed (I do... Read more

2024-01-21T17:40:45-04:00

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 Exactly is a Freelance Christian?

Last updated on: January 21, 2024 at 5:40 pm By Vance Morgan

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I have been told on occasion by readers of this blog that “Freelance Christianity” is an oxymoron. I don’t bother to tell such folks that the other contender for the name of this blog over a decade ago was “Agnostic Christianity” (which fortunately Jeanne talked me out of). Recently, though, a commenter who seemed sincere asked me to explain what the difference between freelance and traditional Christianity might be. My sense was that his question was not a bait-and-switch effort... Read more

2024-01-20T12:48:47-04:00

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.

Is Your Life Going According to Plan?

Last updated on: January 20, 2024 at 12:48 pm By Vance Morgan

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When I first started this blog a bit over eleven years ago, I told Jeanne that I would continue doing it until it became “just another damn thing I have to do.” There have been times that I came very close to that point, but then something–a comment from a reader, an unexpeted insight from an author I am reading–keeps me going. I’ve often said and written that this blog is a form of spiritual exercise for me, that its... Read more

2024-01-17T21:45:22-04:00

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.

Real Wives of the Ancient Middle East

Last updated on: January 17, 2024 at 9:45 pm By Vance Morgan

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Last Sunday’s lectionary reading from the Hebrew Scriptures is the story of God’s call of the young boy Samuel from First Samuel. Samuel was one of my role models as a child, because as a child he was perceptive enough to be able to hear the voice of the divine calling him when the grownups couldn’t hear a thing. But this is the second half of the story. The first half of the story is a tale with many familiar... Read more

2024-01-16T06:45:45-04:00

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.

Now It Begins: The First Day of the New Semester

Last updated on: January 16, 2024 at 6:45 am By Vance Morgan

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In last few minutes of Franco Zefferelli’s Jesus of Nazareth, Zerah pokes his head into the tomb where he observed the dead Jesus of Nazareth being buried three days earlier. Zerah is a politically astute, power-hungry Pharisee who has been an enemy of Jesus since he first heard about the roving rabbi three years earlier. Zerah is the one who manipulates Judas into betraying Jesus. Zerah is the one who convinces the Romans to put a beefed-up military presence in front... Read more

2024-01-12T16:25:36-04:00

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.

How Solitude Can Lead to God

Last updated on: January 12, 2024 at 4:25 pm By Vance Morgan

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The building looked like the love child of a logic problem and a crossword puzzle. Richard Powers, Orfeo Richard Powers is one of my favorite novelists, but I don’t recall ever having a conversation with anyone about his books. He is the sort of author whose books win awards, whose novels reviewers rave about as “brilliant,” a “tour de force,” and “his generation’s Herman Melville,” but few people read. But I read them. His twelfth novel, The Overstory (2018), was... Read more

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