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Progressive Christian

2023-01-02T22:34:21-04:00

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.

Blessing The Crap Out Of Each Other

Last updated on: January 2, 2023 at 10:34 pm By Vance Morgan

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There are eight to ten movies that Jeanne and I watch religiously during the Christmas season, from the obvious (“It’s a Wonderful Life,” “White Christmas”) to a few that are not as well-known. Somehow this season we have failed so far to watch one of the lesser known films which might actually be my favorite–the 2006 French film “Joyeux Noel.” This film is a fictionalized account of the 1914 Christmas Truce that spontaneously occurred in numerous places along the battlefield... Read more

2023-01-01T07:55:51-04:00

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.

Hope in Unexpected Form—A New Year’s Day Reflection

Last updated on: January 1, 2023 at 7:55 am By Vance Morgan

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Every New Year’s Day for the past decade—the amount of time I have been writing this blog—I have posted something about hope for the New Year and suggested one or two things that I might commit to going forward that more or less looked like New Year’s resolutions. Last year I decided that my New Year’s resolution was to spend (waste) less time on social media; my practical step in that direction was to delete my Twitter account. It was... Read more

2022-12-29T19:00:50-04:00

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 it the end of us? An end-of-the-year reflection

Last updated on: December 29, 2022 at 7:00 pm By Vance Morgan

He who loves his life will lose it. John 12:25 I subscribe to two magazines, The New Yorker and The Atlantic. They pile up on the end table next to my side of the bed all semester–I generally start catching up on them in between semesters, often while riding on the stationary bike at the gym. The theme of the recently-arrived January 2023 The Atlantic is “Notes from the Apocalypse.” Given that I have participated in a team-taught colloquium called “Apocalypse” three times–including... Read more

2022-12-26T10:34:18-04:00

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.

“It has been done in your name”: A cautionary tale from Charles Dickens

Last updated on: December 26, 2022 at 10:34 am By Vance Morgan

This year Jeanne and I spent this year at home for Christmas for the first time in some time–we actually travelled despite Covid warning each of the last twoo Christmases. Amongst other things, we watched two versions of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the classic 1951 version with Alastair Sim as Scrooge and George C. Scott starring in the 1982 rendition, my favorite of the many available. For each of last four academic years, I have had the privilege of team-teaching... Read more

2022-12-21T14:22:51-04:00

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.

Good People All: Have a Blessed Christmas Day

Last updated on: December 21, 2022 at 2:22 pm By Vance Morgan

Good people all, this Christmas time Consider well and bear in mind What our good God for us has done In sending his beloved son On this Christmas Day, I wish you the happiest of holidays. Here is a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite Christmas carols, the Irish “Wexford Carol.” Alison Krause, Yo-Yo Ma, a violin, bagpipes, percussion . . . it doesn’t get any better! Read more

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2022-12-23T11:50:51-04:00

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.

Have Yourself a Rashomon Christmas

Last updated on: December 23, 2022 at 11:50 am By Vance Morgan

A few years ago, I was asked to take on a temporary administrative position for the following semester in addition to my teaching duties. After agreeing to do so, my first step was to go on a fact-finding and listening tour, talking individually with the dozen or so people most knowledgeable concerning the issues I knew I would be grappling with. As I spent an hour or more with each of these colleagues, I found that it was often difficult... Read more

2022-12-20T17:38:32-04:00

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.

Returning Straight to Jesus at Christmas

Last updated on: December 20, 2022 at 5:38 pm By Vance Morgan

This has been an unusual Advent season. Advent is my favorite season in the liturgical calendar; it has been a decade-long tradition that I give the sermon on one of the four Advent Sundays at the Episcopal church I am involved with. For various reasons, though, I am on an open-ended sabbatical/hiatus from church—which has given me the opportunity, when I have chosen to take it, to think and feel carefully about a number of things that I have often... Read more

2022-12-16T15:53:35-04:00

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.

Not Exactly What I Had Planned

Last updated on: December 16, 2022 at 3:53 pm By Vance Morgan

If you have been a regular reader of this blog for a while (there are a few of you out there), you may have noticed that most of what I have posted in the last three or four months is familiar. “I’ve read something like this before,” you might be saying. And you would be right. For a number of different reasons, the majority of essays I have posted over the past several weeks are do-overs, golden oldies with appropriate... Read more

2022-12-16T16:03:05-04:00

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.

A Stepfather with a Questionable Pedigree

Last updated on: December 16, 2022 at 4:03 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

2022-12-15T11:13:47-04:00

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.

How to Get Along with People Who Aren’t Like You

Last updated on: December 15, 2022 at 11:13 am By Vance Morgan

As I begin to prepare for my next book project, a memoir on the teaching and academic life tentatively titled Nice Work if You Can Get It: Lessons and Stories from a LIfe in the Classroom, I’m returning to posts from the recent four years that I was the director of a large program on campus. I learned a lot about myself and others during those years, including some useful quick ways to categorize people that helped me sort out how... Read more

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