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Progressive Christian

2022-10-06T13:38:00-04:00

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.

We Don’t Need to Protect God

Last updated on: October 6, 2022 at 1:38 pm By Vance Morgan

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

2022-10-05T22:13:04-04:00

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 it is Like to Be a Snob

Last updated on: October 5, 2022 at 10:13 pm By Vance Morgan

A bit over a week ago at my brother-in-law’s wake, I spent several minutes chatting with my niece-in-law’s husband (which I guess makes him my nephew-in-law-in-law). 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 Jeanne’s large family gathers together because we share something in common. We are... Read more

2022-10-04T06:31:12-04:00

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.

Persons, Humans, and Souls

Last updated on: October 4, 2022 at 6:31 am By Vance Morgan

What it means to be a person, and how that is different than being human, has been on my mind a lot lately. At the “With Mutual Respect” abortion discussion where I was a panelist last week, I emphasized the importance of distinguishing between “person” and “human” when considering the status of the fetus. Several of the questions from the audience, as I expected, asked me to say more about “personhood”–and why I don’t believe that being biologically human, as... Read more

2022-10-01T13:43:59-04:00

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.

Having the Faith of a Weed

Last updated on: October 1, 2022 at 1:43 pm By Vance Morgan

In today’s gospel reading from Luke, Jesus’ disciples make a very simple request: “Increase our faith.” Jesus responds in his frequently over-the-top and inscrutable way: “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Oh really? Figuring out exactly what Jesus is talking about requires learning something about the mustard plant. Bear with me. My family and I spent three... Read more

2023-09-15T12:31:46-04:00

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 Men Should Be Pro-Choice, and other obvious truths

Last updated on: September 15, 2023 at 12:31 pm By Vance Morgan

I have been involved with the planning of an important on-campus event ever since early June. I wrote about that event and what we on the planning committee hoped it would accomplish a few weeks ago. Abortion and Faith Discussions: Begin How You Want It To End That event took place last evening, in front of a packed venue with 400+ students, faculty, administrators, and staff in attendance. I was originally supposed to be the moderator of the discussion, but... Read more

abortion

2022-09-26T13:25:12-04:00

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 Aren’t Red Maples Blue, and other random autumn thoughts

Last updated on: September 26, 2022 at 1:25 pm By Vance Morgan

Autumn is my favorite season—not even a close contest. I grew up in northern Vermont, surrounded by spectacular foliage colors every late September and crisp, jacket-wearing sunny days in October. Or so I remember it—given that Vermont reportedly has more cloudy days per year than any other state, there probably weren’t that many sunny days. Fifty years later in southern New England, we get autumn several weeks later than in Vermont. I’ve also noticed that Rhode Island trees are not... Read more

2022-09-24T08:54:32-04:00

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.

Which Is More Dangerous–Moral Certainty or Moral Relativism?

Last updated on: September 24, 2022 at 8:54 am By Vance Morgan

Do moral absolutes exist? Is human engagement with moral principles more like a treasure hunt, where we search for something that is already there but perhaps is deeply hidden, or are moral principles something that we creatively construct from various pieces of our individual and collective experiences as well as from the world around us? These are the sorts of questions that I always spend the first few weeks of any ethics course exploring with my students. On the first... Read more

2022-09-23T09:38:50-04:00

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.

On Being a Person: Remembering Hilary Mantel

Last updated on: September 23, 2022 at 9:38 am By Vance Morgan

I was saddened to learn this morning that Hilary Mantel, the two-time Booker Prize winning historical novelist, whose Thomas Cromwell trilogy [Wolf Hall (2009); Bring Up the Bodies (2012); The Mirror and the Light (2020)] made her an international star as well as serving as the basis for several stage plays and the BBC series Wolf Hall, died yesterday. She was one of my favorite novelists with an unmatched command of language and an unfailing ability to create unforgettable characters. Along with her Cromwell... Read more

2022-09-21T13:06:18-04:00

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.

Autumn Peace is a Choice

Last updated on: September 21, 2022 at 1:06 pm By Vance Morgan

Today is the first day of autumn. For those who love autumn as I do, it was wonderful to experience three perfect early autumn days at the end of last week even though it was still summer. But there is an underlying truth to autumn that many find disturbing. While spring promises new beginnings—as they say, hope “springs” eternal (couldn’t help myself)—autumn is about things winding down and ending. Aristotle tells us that “generation and corruption” is the defining process... Read more

2022-09-18T16:50:30-04:00

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.

Some Stories are Not Redemptive. But They All are Important

Last updated on: September 18, 2022 at 4:50 pm By Vance Morgan

The first reading assignment in my General Ethics class this semester was Kate Jennings’ 2002 novel Moral Hazard. I have used it several times in class over the years because it throws the reader headlong into a multitude of moral quandaries and difficulties ranging from sacrificing one’s moral values in order to make money to euthanasia. Cath, the narrator of the novel (and clearly autobiographical in many regards) is happily married to Bailey, a man twenty years her senior who,... Read more

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