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Progressive Christian

2022-04-01T13:17:32-04:00

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.

Actually, He Died: A Good Friday Meditation

Last updated on: April 1, 2022 at 1:17 pm By Vance Morgan

Several Christmas Eves ago, Jeanne, Justin and I were invited to share dinner with a friend from work and her family, which includes two precocious and very active children. On display was a beautiful crèche, surrounded by all sorts of interesting items—who knew, for instance, that there was a duck and an elephant (both roughly the same size as the baby) at the manger? My friend is from Italy; her mother annually sends new additions to the crèche scene from... Read more

2022-04-01T15:04:41-04:00

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.

Falling Asleep in All the Wrong Places: A Maundy Thursday Reflection

Last updated on: April 1, 2022 at 3:04 pm By Vance Morgan

Some people can sleep anywhere. One of those people was a student in one of my seminars a few semesters ago. Bob (his name has been changed to protect the innocent) was a bright but apparently less-than-motivated student whose verbal work, such as participation in seminar, vastly exceeded his written or objective work, such as reading quizzes and the midterm exam. He’s one of those students who always had something to say that is relevant and insightful, carefully crafted to... Read more

2022-04-11T13:38:50-04:00

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.

Jewish Holy Man Kills Innocent Fig Tree In a Fit of Temper

Last updated on: April 11, 2022 at 1:38 pm By Vance Morgan

A bit over a decade ago, I spent spent the early months of the year on sabbatical on the campus of a Benedictine college in Minnesota. Lining the road on the fifteen minute uphill walk from my Ecumenical Institute apartment to St. John’s Abbey in the depths of winter were any number of leafless trees, 10-12 feet tall. Judging from their shapes and sizes, I guessed that many of them were the flowering sorts of trees that are always the... Read more

2022-04-08T14:15:51-04:00

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.

I’ll Be Jesus: A Palm Sunday Reflection

Last updated on: April 8, 2022 at 2:15 pm By Vance Morgan

What is bothering me incessantly is the question of what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today. The time when people could be told everything by means of words, whether theological or pious, is over—and that means the time of religion in general. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters from Prison A few years ago, after a week at work that completely wore me out, I was strongly tempted to skip church on Sunday morning for the first... Read more

2022-04-06T11:11:23-04:00

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.

Perfection or Slight Improvment?

Last updated on: April 6, 2022 at 11:11 am By Vance Morgan

I have no idea why or how Miss Katrina Munn, a graduate of Julliard School of Music with a degree in organ performance, came to spend most of her adult life teaching piano to kids in central, rural Vermont. She was my first piano teacher, from age five (or was it four?) until age eleven. I spent forty-five minutes per week with her in the piano studio attached to her small apartment. While many of her students found her intimidating, she... Read more

2022-04-04T08:59:13-04:00

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.

What Playing Wordle has Taught Me About Myself

Last updated on: April 4, 2022 at 8:59 am By Vance Morgan

It seems that just about everyone I know is playing “Wordle” every day. I asked my class of 33 honors students yesterday how many of them are playing Wordle—30 hands went up. If you are one of the few human beings who doesn’t know what Wordle is, it’s a game both simple and addictive. Each day you get six chances to guess a five-letter word. After each guess, A gray square means the letter is not in the word of... Read more

2022-04-02T10:40:37-04:00

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.

Martha or Mary? Type A or Type not-A?

Last updated on: April 2, 2022 at 10:40 am By Vance Morgan

The stereotype of the Type A personality has become an entrenched part of cultural lore. Originally described by two cardiologists in the 1950s as the type of person who is most likely to experience cardiac arrest, Type As are familiar to everyone. Competitive, short-fused, action oriented, no nonsense, humorless, deadline driven, boundless in energy—these are people who not only don’t stop to smell the roses, but tend not even to notice the existence of the roses as they plow through... Read more

2022-03-28T09:26:18-04:00

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.

Jesus on April Fools Day

Last updated on: March 28, 2022 at 9:26 am By Vance Morgan

I know it’s the middle of Lent, but tomorrow is April Fools Day. It’s the perfect occasion to ask an important question: Did Jesus ever laugh? One of the many enjoyable occurrences at the end of each semester is occasionally receiving thank-you notes from students. Often they come from quiet students who said little in class but eloquently mention a moment or a text from the semester that made a difference or that will stick with them. The bookshelves in... Read more

2022-03-28T12:59:56-04:00

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.

Wild West Ethics

Last updated on: March 28, 2022 at 12:59 pm By Vance Morgan

Bein’ born is craps. How we live is poker. Doc Holliday Of the dozens of novelists whose books I have read over the years, Mary Doria Russell is one of my least likely favorites. I’m not a big science fiction fan (I much prefer mysteries), but her debut novels The Sparrow and Children of God, about a Jesuit missionary expedition in outer space (you can’t beat Catholics in space!) are both beautifully written and thought-provoking. Dreamers of the Day, set... Read more

2022-03-27T08:04:24-04:00

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.

On the Days when I Believe . . .

Last updated on: March 27, 2022 at 8:04 am By Vance Morgan

After spending six and a half decades in the middle of this faith thing, one would think that I might have made some definitive conclusions about faith and real life by now. After all, that’s what the decade of this blog’s existence has been about. But I am continually reminded that any attempts to “figure faith out,” by me or anyone else, are doomed to failure. “Doomed” not because faith can’t be figured out. “Doomed” because, as we philosophers might... Read more

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