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Progressive Christian

2022-12-11T12:04:27-04:00

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.

The Incarnation or the Resurrection?

Last updated on: December 11, 2022 at 12:04 pm By Vance Morgan

A few years ago, a Facebook friend posted a poll on her site. The question was: Which is more meaningful to you—Christmas or Easter? While many respondents commented that their vote was based on which of the two seasons they found more entertaining or less stressful, the most interesting comments were from those who made their choice on what these two holidays mean to them as persons of Christian faith. The underlying faith question is: Which is more central to... Read more

2022-12-10T21:30:39-04:00

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.

Things are Getting Real: A Conversation Between Jesus and John the Baptist

Last updated on: December 10, 2022 at 9:30 pm By Vance Morgan

In a second season episode of “The Chosen,” a multi-year cinematic treatment of the life of Jesus that just began its third season, Jesus has a private conversation with his relative John the Baptist (known to Jesus’ disciples as “Creepy John”). They clearly have known each other since they were boys; they not only are friends, but also have a strong sense of each other’s calling. John, appropriately scraggly as one would expect a guy who eats locusts and wild... Read more

2022-12-07T16:41:56-04:00

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.

Why Should We Be Hopeful?

Last updated on: December 7, 2022 at 4:41 pm By Vance Morgan

Herodotus is considered to be the first true historian in the contemporary sense of the word; historian or not, he’s a great story-teller. He records page after page of anecdotal tales about strange and distant lands, stories often based more on second-hand rumor than direct observation. Consider, for instance, his description of a certain Thracian tribe’s practices at the birth of a baby: When a baby is born the family sits round and mourns at the thought of the sufferings... Read more

2022-12-06T07:49:09-04:00

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.

“With Mutual Respect”–An Exercise in Eloquent Listening

Last updated on: December 6, 2022 at 7:49 am By Vance Morgan

On the last Wednesday of September, an event took place on my college campus that was several months in the making. Called “With Mutual Respect: Discussions on Contemporary Challenges,” it was the first in a projected series of dialogue/discussion event on controverial topics initiated by the President of the college last May. In the interest of starting with the most controversial topic imaginable, the issue under discussion was abortion. On a Catholic campus. Imagine that. I wrote early in September... Read more

2022-12-04T07:30:24-04:00

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.

“Truthiness” and the Incarnation

Last updated on: December 4, 2022 at 7:30 am By Vance Morgan

In 2016, the Oxford Dictionary named “post-truth” as its word of the year, an adjective defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” I can’t imagine what happened in 2016 that would have cause them to make that choice. Those of us who pine for the good old Comedy Central days of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” followed by “The Colbert Report”... Read more

2022-12-05T13:13:15-04:00

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.

An Advent Wish: Peace Be to You

Last updated on: December 5, 2022 at 1:13 pm By Vance Morgan

Advent began last Sunday. For many reasons, Advent is my favorite season of the liturgical year and I have often written over the past decade about the various ways in which Advent fits both my understanding of my Christian faith and my personality perfectly. This year, Advent promises to be somewhat different, since for reasons both professional and personal I am currently on an open-ended hiatus/sabbatical/time out from regular church attendance. I’ve given a sermon during Advent each of the... Read more

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2022-11-27T16:20:59-04:00

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.

Living the Social Gospel: Your faith is not just about you

Last updated on: November 27, 2022 at 4:20 pm By Vance Morgan

In the interdisiplinary and team-taught honors course I am teaching in this academic year, we are closing the semester with considerations of important events, movements, and texts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The topic for seminar yesterday was Christian responses to social upheaval, particularly the social gospel. Among other texts, the students read Pope Leo XIII’s influential 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum and the introduction to Walter Rauschenbusch’s 1917 book A Theology for the Social Gospel. Rauschenbusch was... Read more

2022-11-27T09:35:06-04:00

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.

Happy Advent–Stay Awake!

Last updated on: November 27, 2022 at 9:35 am By Vance Morgan

Happy New Year! Today is the First Sunday of Advent, the first day of the new liturgical year. That’s Year One in the Book of Common Prayer daily readings, and Year A for the Sunday and Feast Day Lectionary, if you are keeping score at home. Although I have now spent well over half of my life as an Episcopalian, as a born and raised Baptist I still find all of this liturgical and lectionary stuff just as fascinating and... Read more

2022-11-21T13:14:40-04:00

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.

Get Thee Behind Me, Santa!

Last updated on: November 21, 2022 at 1:14 pm By Vance Morgan

Today is Black Friday, on my shortlist of candidates for the stupidest day of the year. Over the past few weeks I have needed on occasion to visit our local Lowe’s for bird food, leaf and lawn bags, and other autumn-related items. Since before Halloween, autumn leaf-control tools and accessories have been competing with mass quantities of the worst that commercial Christmas has to offer. Fake trees, gaudy and tasteless lawn decorations and tree ornaments have taken over the right... Read more

2022-11-22T10:29:30-04:00

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.

So What are YOU Thankful For This Year?

Last updated on: November 22, 2022 at 10:29 am By Vance Morgan

I have a Facebook acquaintance, a fellow graduate of St. John’s College, who posts five things she is thankful for every morning. I admire this and am always glad when I bump into her daily post on those mornings that I’m on Facebook as well. It is a practice that I have told myself many times that I need to develop, but have so far have failed to do. But as we approach the best holiday of the year, let... Read more

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