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Progressive Christian

2022-11-19T13:58:01-04:00

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 Life Forwards and Understanding it Backwards

Last updated on: November 19, 2022 at 1:58 pm By Vance Morgan

Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. Soren Kierkegaard One of my duties on campus this semester is as the co-chair of a national search for the person who, when hired, will be the second most important faculty member on campus, second only to the Provost. It’s a daunting assignment—I’ve told people that I’m essentially co-chairing the search for the person who will be my boss’s boss. The President and Provost told my co-chair and... Read more

2022-11-18T11:20:50-04:00

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.

In Honor of Michael Gerson

Last updated on: November 18, 2022 at 11:20 am By Vance Morgan

I was saddened to hear this morning of the death of Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson at the age of 58. Gerson was a speechwriter for former President George W. Bush, including several memorable post-9/11 speeches. I often used a Gerson essay as the focus of a post on this blog. That includes an essay from November 2019–“Noah and His Children: Bad News for White Evangelical Christians”–which has become the most viewed post in the 10+ year history of this... Read more

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Michael Gerson

2022-11-16T12:51:02-04:00

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.

What I Have Learned From Our Blackberry Bush

Last updated on: November 16, 2022 at 12:51 pm By Vance Morgan

It is mid-November; the leaves on the large oak tree in the yard diagonally behind us have fallen, 90% of them in our back yard. That means that this weekend, weather permitting, will be at least partially dedicated to back yard rather and trimming. Part of the trimming will involve our blackberry bush, a plant that has been both a blessing and a problem for several years. A number of years ago, Jeanne returned from a weekend with a friend... Read more

2022-11-14T13:40:44-04:00

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.

“Dear White America”: A Young Woman Reflects on her Inherent Racism

Last updated on: November 14, 2022 at 1:40 pm By Vance Morgan

Yesterday was the final class in the “Race” unit in my General Ethics class; the reading assignment was George Yancy’s controversial 2015 essay “Dear White America.” If you have never read it, please take a few minutes and do so. https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/24/dear-white-america/?smid=pl-share As an ongoing writing assignment, each of my students is required to submit ten short reflections (500-600 words) on an upcoming assigned reading throughout the semester. Here is how this assignment is described in the course syllabus: These reflection... Read more

2022-11-12T19:55:05-04:00

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.

“The Heart Has Its Reasons . . .”: My Evidence Against Atheism

Last updated on: November 12, 2022 at 7:55 pm By Vance Morgan

Although I estimate that at least 80-90 percent of the negative comments and pushback I get on my blog are from angry conservative evangelical Christians (I’ve been doing more blocking than usual over the past few weeks), I frequently get pushback from the other end of the spectrum–atheists who want either to know what evidence I have to justify believing in God’s existence or why I remain a person of faith when so many of my stated beliefs and perspectives... Read more

2022-11-07T20:36:33-04:00

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.

The Lady Macbeth School of Leadership

Last updated on: November 7, 2022 at 8:36 pm By Vance Morgan

Last weekend I attended a student production of Macbeth on campus, the first such production I’ve attended since before the pandemic. Our performing arts center has a beautiful small theater; with Jeanne out of town for work, I purchased seat A1, front row at the center end. To be honest, if Jeanne had been along I probably would have purchased A1 and A2, since she if comfortable with sitting in the front row as well. I love Shakespeare. I got... Read more

2022-11-07T20:50:13-04:00

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.

Why Stories are Better than Arguments

Last updated on: November 7, 2022 at 8:50 pm By Vance Morgan

The best argument in the world won’t change a person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story. Richard Powers Richard Powers is one of my favorite novelists, perhaps the best living novelist that most people have either never heard of or haven’t read if they have heard of him. His latest novel is Bewilderment. I’m still not sure if I like it or not, but that’s not unusual for a Powers novel. He makes the reader... Read more

2022-11-04T13:25:30-04:00

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.

One Wife for Seven Brothers: A Strange Story with an Important Lesson

Last updated on: November 4, 2022 at 1:25 pm By Vance Morgan

A conversation overheard as a bunch of guys at a sports bar wait for the big game to begin: “Dude, I’ve got one for you. There are these seven brothers named Aaron, Bill, Carl, Dave, Eric, Fred and George. Aaron’s the oldest one and he marries his high school girlfriend Paula. But he dies and Bill marries Paula because he thinks it’s the right thing to do.” “That’s kind of weird. Is Paula hot?” “What does that matter? “If I... Read more

2022-11-03T12:09:00-04:00

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.

Warthogs and Saints: Who Gets to be at the Front of the Line?

Last updated on: November 3, 2022 at 12:09 pm By Vance Morgan

One of my colleagues and friends and I are beginning to construct the syllabus for a colloquium we will be teaching next semester. We taught it successfully last spring but are up for a few tweaks the second time around. We closed last spring’s colloquium with Wholehearted Faith, Rachel Held Evans’ final book published after her untimely and tragic death in 2019. Evans’ work resonates with me because her story is somewhat similar to mine, an emergence from Protestant fundamentalism toward... Read more

2022-11-01T10:44:31-04:00

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.

Betting on God’s Existence

Last updated on: November 1, 2022 at 10:44 am By Vance Morgan

In my ethics class this week, we discussed an essay by Gary Gutting, who teaches at the University of Notre Dame, that engages with one of the most famous arguments for the existence of God ever offered: Blaise Pascal’s “Wager.” Except that the “Wager” is not an argument for the existence of God at all. Rather, it is Pascal’s analysis of an interesting situation that human beings find themselves in. Since we cannot prove beyond the shadow of a doubt... Read more

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