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Progressive Christian

2021-12-28T08:34:17-04:00

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.

This Year Sucked, Just Like the Last One. Now What?

Last updated on: December 28, 2021 at 8:34 am By Vance Morgan

Although today is the next-to-last day of 2021, I am writing ten days earlier on December 20. That’s because today Jeanne and I are returning from Tampa after a five-day cruise to Cozumel and other points of interest on the east coast of Mexico. Since even I am not likely to spend much time on our first-ever cruise writing, I’ve chosen to get everything ready on the blog early for the rest of the year. That doesn’t mean, of course,... Read more

2021-12-19T16:15:04-04:00

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.

He Has Put Down the Mighty From Their Throne

Last updated on: December 19, 2021 at 4:15 pm By Vance Morgan

Today on the liturgical calendar is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the day that commemorates King Herod’s ordering the slaughter of the male children under two years old in Bethlehem in an attempt to eliminate the newborn Messiah who was rumored to have been born there. I have written about this gruesome part of the New Testament narrative before, focusing on the text from the haunting medieval “Coventry Carol”: Herod the king, in his raging, Charged he hath this... Read more

2021-12-17T10:36:53-04:00

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 Goes to the Temple, and then gets grounded

Last updated on: December 17, 2021 at 10:36 am By Vance Morgan

Each week for many years, Garrison Keillor told “Prairie Home Companion” listeners the news from Lake Wobegon, where “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” I’ll bet the Holy Family was like that. Lots of people think their children are well “above average”—hence, the bumper stickers in which parents boast that they are the “Proud Parents of an Honor Student at _________.” Everyone thinks their child is precocious and the smartest/best... Read more

2021-12-23T15:00:26-04:00

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.

Merry Christmas: Christus Natus Est

Last updated on: December 23, 2021 at 3:00 pm By Vance Morgan

Christmas movies are a big deal at my house. Jeanne goes for the classics, such as “Miracle on 34th Street,” “The Bishop’s Wife,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and (her favorite) “White Christmas.” Those are all fine (except “White Christmas,” which I can take or leave), but I tend to favor more recent ones, like “The Holiday,” ” Love Actually,” and (my favorite) “The Nativity Story.” Movies with Biblical themes were both attractive and problematic in my early years. We did... Read more

2021-12-17T12:57:43-04:00

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.

When Your Favorite Thing Breaks

Last updated on: December 17, 2021 at 12:57 pm By Vance Morgan

If you are fond of a cup, say “I am fond of a cup!” For then when it is broken you will not be upset. Epictetus Every time I teach the Stoics, I am reminded of how full their philosophy is of “Well, duh!!” truths. That’s a compliment, not a criticism. As a philosophy professor, I rely on such truths when trying to hook students into a discipline that can often be—as Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor accused Jesus of being—“vague, exceptional,... Read more

2021-12-18T14:47:37-04:00

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.

There Will Be An Answer: Let It Be

Last updated on: December 18, 2021 at 2:47 pm By Vance Morgan

I have the privilege of giving the sermon at Trinity Episcopal Church in Pawtuxet, RI this morning for the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Here’s what I’ll say (and sing). Many of you folks in the pews today are old enough to understand what I mean when I say that I grew up with the Beatles. They were an important part of the soundtrack of my youth. Now, “Alexa, play the Beatles!” is my most common command if I’m looking for... Read more

2021-12-17T07:57:46-04:00

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.

“For Unto Us”: An Afternoon with Handel’s Messiah

Last updated on: December 17, 2021 at 7:57 am By Vance Morgan

The soundtrack of my youth is classical music. I was classically trained on the piano from ago four through high school. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Liszt, Rachmaninoff—these were my rock stars. And at the center of my well-worn playlist was Handel’s Messiah. The “Which is the greatest work of classical music ever composed?” debate will never be settled, but I guarantee that, after six-and-a-half decades of immersion in the classical canon, Messiah is my favorite. I know every measure of... Read more

2021-12-14T18:21:06-04:00

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.

Advent for Dummies–How to do the season

Last updated on: December 14, 2021 at 6:21 pm By Vance Morgan

We seek retreats for ourselves in country places, on beaches and mountains . . . but that is altogether unenlightened when it is possible at any hour you please to find a retreat within yourself. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Most people think of Advent within a religious context, the annual month-long season of introspection, inwardness, quietness, and hope that anticipates the nativity and the Incarnation. But there is secular value to Advent as well, particularly in the middle of pre-Christmas insanity surrounding shopping,... Read more

2021-12-13T13:37:25-04:00

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.

Pursue the Truth, Even if You Never Catch It

Last updated on: December 13, 2021 at 1:37 pm By Vance Morgan

The premise of Sue Monk Kidd’s 2020 novel The Book of Longings is simple, and will be shocking to the more theologically conservative: What if Jesus was married? Early in the novel, Ana—the girl whom Jesus will marry—has an important conversation with her beloved and iconoclastic aunt, Yaltha. Ana is a misfit, a young girl who reads, writes, and has visions—none of which fit the traditional template for a Jewish woman of the time. Ana is betrothed to a much older... Read more

2021-12-12T08:08:52-04:00

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 am Thankful For at the End of the Semester

Last updated on: December 12, 2021 at 8:08 am By Vance Morgan

As I write this essay on Friday afternoon, it is the last day of regular classes for the Fall semester. Several days of final exams begin Monday, but it’s essentially all over but the shouting. Not that anyone’s shouting—everyone’s too exhausted for that. We are finishing the fourth consecutive semester of higher education during Covid-19, and everyone I know—both students and faculty—is showing the strain. Yet we have a lot to be grateful for on my campus. All classes were... Read more

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