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Progressive Christian

2020-12-29T13:07:27-04:00

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.

Is Tolerance a Luxury or a Virtue?

Last updated on: December 29, 2020 at 1:07 pm By Vance Morgan

Earlier this month, I posted an essay titled “It Isn’t True Just Because You Believe It” on this site, built around Friedrich Nietzsche’s observation that, despite most everyone’s claims to the contrary, “there is no immaculate perception.” In other words, my beliefs—even my most cherished ones and the ones I’m willing to go to virtual battle over—are not true simply because they are mine. Everyone’s beliefs and perceptions are influenced by their experiences and filtered through various preexisting assumptions and... Read more

2021-01-04T15:25:41-04:00

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.

A Different Kind of Christmas Story

Last updated on: January 4, 2021 at 3:25 pm By Vance Morgan

Because of Covid-19, a less-than-smooth transition from one administration to another, and a general impatience for the worst calendar year in our lives to end, this Christmas season is more dissonant than most. During a conversation with a number of friends the other day I was reminded that the juxtaposition of promise and death, of expectation and suffering, is nothing new. This dissonance is built into the fabric of the stories that we tend to tell selectively and sanitize for... Read more

2020-12-25T01:57:36-04:00

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.

Good People All: Have a Blessed Christmas

Last updated on: December 25, 2020 at 1:57 am By Vance Morgan

Good people all, this Christmas time Consider well and bear in mind What our good God for us has done In sending his beloved son On this Christmas Day, I wish you the happiest of holidays as we finish a very difficult year, and hopefully await a much better one just around the corner. Here is a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite Christmas carols, the Irish “Wexford Carol.” Alison Krause, Yo-Yo Ma, a violin, bagpipes, percussion . .... Read more

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2020-12-23T21:20:18-04:00

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.

Grace and Peace Be with You

Last updated on: December 23, 2020 at 9:20 pm By Vance Morgan

Grace means suddenly you’re in a different universe from the one where you were stuck, and there was absolutely no way for you get there on you own. Anne Lamott A few years ago, Jeanne surprised me for Father’s Day by taking me to a concert in Maryland by one of my favorite musicians. I discovered Fernando Ortega’s music three or four years ago after plugging the name of one of the few Christian artists I can stand into Pandora. After... Read more

2020-12-22T09:44:36-04:00

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.

That Mary Thing

Last updated on: December 22, 2020 at 9:44 am By Vance Morgan

I have a colleague and friend with whom I share a lot in common. Eric and I are both “Johnnies,” graduates of the St. John’s College Great Books curriculum (he graduated a few years before I did back in the 1970s). We share the same scholarly interests; he was an outside reader on one of my books, as I was on one of his a few years later. And we are both hardcore Protestants. Eric is an ordained Presbyterian minister who... Read more

2020-12-18T16:18:19-04:00

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 Are the Hands and Feet of God

Last updated on: December 18, 2020 at 4:18 pm By Vance Morgan

I begin with a couple of stories. Story #1: There has been vigorous debate on my campus for years concerning what the real goals of the Development of Western Civilization program that I directed for four years, and have taught in for twenty-five years, are. Although my own ideas have evolved over the years, I’ve always been clear about what the goals are not. For more than fifteen years, I’ve been telling students to never treat this course as a... Read more

Development of Western Civilization

Development of Western Civilization

2020-12-14T17:16:20-04:00

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 to Say when Any Word is the Wrong Word

Last updated on: December 14, 2020 at 5:16 pm By Vance Morgan

After a number of years of engaging with social media, primarily Facebook and Twitter, I have to admit that although these platforms generate a lot of traffic for my blog, I am not a big fan. As I was reading some of my early posts on this blog the other day from several years ago, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a close friend that explains why. This conversation took place shortly after a natural disaster that was... Read more

2020-12-15T00:25:05-04:00

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.

News Flash: There is Going to be a Doctor in the House

Last updated on: December 15, 2020 at 12:25 am By Vance Morgan

When does a person get to use the title “Doctor” in front of their name? Easy–When she or he has earned it. According to the gospel accounts, Jesus had little regard for traditional honorifics, titles, or the ways in which we construct human pecking orders. He criticized the Pharisees for their concern about externals rather than the heart, promised that in the kingdom of heaven “the last shall be first,” and criticized his disciples as they jockeyed for position in... Read more

2020-12-12T18:06:26-04:00

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.

Beauty for Ashes: Accepting the Call of Advent

Last updated on: December 12, 2020 at 6:06 pm By Vance Morgan

Two weeks ago, I gave the First Sunday of Advent sermon at Trinity Episcopal Church in Pawtuxet, RI. The church’s priest-in-charge, my good friend Mitch, introduced me by saying “We are pleased to welcome to the Trinity pulpit this morning our own Advent prophet, Dr. Vance Morgan.” This was, without a doubt, the first time I have ever been introduced as a prophet, and it knocked me off my game for a few seconds. Because I know something about prophets.... Read more

2020-12-09T15:39:08-04:00

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 101–Finding a Retreat Within Yourself

Last updated on: December 9, 2020 at 3:39 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

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