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Progressive Christian

Simone Weil

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January 2022

January 18, 2022

I’m not trying to fix you. I’m trying to listen.

In a perfect world, I would never give a written final exam in any class...

January 17, 2022

Thoughts on Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Does the Arc of the Moral Universe Really Bend Toward Justice?

Former President Obama loved to quote a hopeful statement from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:...

January 06, 2022

The REAL Reason Why January 6th is Important

One year ago, a mob of insurrectionists stormed and temporarily occupied the U.S. Capitol building...

January 02, 2022

In the Beginning was the Word

In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word was made flesh,...

November 2021

November 13, 2021

Do You Want to be Certain, or Do You Want to be Honest?

Uncertainty doesn't make a person less faithful; it just makes her more honest. Rachel Held Evans...

August 2021

August 17, 2021

I’m Working On It

Any caring human being asks the question What is the right thing to do? on...

July 2021

July 08, 2021

Is There Anyone Home Up There?

This week, my preliminary work on my next book project--a teaching memoir tentatively entitled Nice...

June 2021

June 19, 2021

A Father’s Day Reflection: What My Dad Taught Me about Reading and Belief

One of the most important things an author has to write when a book is...

April 2021

April 27, 2021

So You Want to Be a Good Person?

A Polish Franciscan priest. A Lutheran pastor and theologian. A French, Jewish social activist attracted...

April 24, 2021

The Bible is Not the Word of God

Either the Bible is true or it isn’t, either it’s God’s inspired inerrant word or...

April 13, 2021

The Tools of Lifetime Learning

My father, an itinerant Baptist minister, once told me about a plaque on the preacher’s...

March 2021

March 02, 2021

Hitler, Trump, and the Golden Calf

In one of my seminars a week or so ago, my students and I considered...

January 2021

January 29, 2021

The Best of 2020 #2: Idolatry and Abortion

The #2 post on this blog in popularity in 2020 was published in February. I...

January 24, 2021

Dealing With Our Inner Nazi

We ought not to hide from ourselves that Nazi Germany is a mirror for all...

November 2020

November 08, 2020

Fixers and Healers

My doctor says that I am his most boring patient, because there is never anything...

September 2020

September 22, 2020

Don’t Be a One Issue Voter–even if that issue is abortion

With the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginzberg, the abortion issue is slowly...

September 15, 2020

The Fat, Relentless Ego . . . and what to do about it

This past weekend, Jeanne and I, along with our two sons and our daughter-in-law, travelled...

June 2020

June 25, 2020

Why Did Jesus Tell Stories? Because All Good Teachers Do

Man is in his actions and practices, as well as in his fictions, essentially a...

June 23, 2020

Does the Arc of the Moral Universe Really Bend Toward Justice?

Former President Obama loved to quote a hopeful statement from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:...

June 16, 2020

Confronting the Sin of Certainty

If you think you understand it, it is not God. Soren Kierkegaard In Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer...

June 05, 2020

From Solitude to God

The building looked like the love child of a logic problem and a crossword puzzle....

May 2020

May 18, 2020

We Are On Our Own

In preparation for my next book project, a teaching memoir tentatively titled Nice Work If You...

February 2020

February 02, 2020

Idolatry and Abortion

I wrote the essay that follows several months ago; on the advice of some trusted...

January 2020

January 06, 2020

An Epiphany in Real Time

Yesterday was the Feast of the Epiphany, the first day of the liturgical season that...

December 2019

December 31, 2019

Letting God Creep In

About halfway through his lengthy essay, Schjeldahl notes his agreement with one of Weil’s...

December 26, 2019

Dammit, It’s the Incarnation!

Last year around this time, I posted an essay that turned out to be more...

September 2019

September 28, 2019

Being Open to the Possibility of God: An excerpt from my new book “Prayer for People Who Don’t Believe in God”

I am pleased to announce that my new book, Prayer for People Who Don't Believe in...

July 2019

July 13, 2019

You mean THOSE people are my neighbors???

Not long ago, Jeanne and I saw “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, the documentary about...

June 2019

June 13, 2019

What My Father Taught Me About Reading and Belief

One of the most important tasks that an author has to face when a book...

May 2019

May 28, 2019

Say Something Profound

At the end of each academic year, I tend to reflect back on the past...

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