Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Good Letters

Home
Catholic

Tania Runyan

Select a Category A. G. Harmon Alissa Wilkinson Allison Backous Art Authors Brad Fruhauff Bradford Winters Bryan Bliss Caroline Langston Chad Thomas Johnston Chris Hoke Christiana N. Peterson Culture D.G. Myers D.L. Mayfield Daniel Bowman Jr. David Griffith Elizabeth Duffy Faith Film Greg Wolfe Guest Contributor Interview Jan Vallone Jeffrey Overstreet Jessica Eddings-Roeser Jessica Mesman Griffith Kelly Foster Lindsey Crittenden Morgan Meis music Natalie Vestin Nick Olson Peggy Rosenthal Personal Reflection Poetry Friday Reflection Relationships Review Richard Chess Richard Cole Sara Zarr Shannon Huffman Polson Sonya Bilocerkowycz Tania Runyan Tony Woodlief Topical Categories Uncategorized Vic Sizemore Writing

Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

October 2018

October 08, 2018

On Writing Odes: Taking Time to Celebrate

Amidst the constant stream of bad news these days, we would do well to make...

September 2018

September 10, 2018

Emmy Watch: This Is Us

This Is Us. This is Adoption. Open adoption, in which a child’s birth family and...

August 2018

August 24, 2018

Poetry Friday: A Quick Interpretation of the Sixth Seal

End times? Friends in the evangelical world talk seriously about the Rapture. Our world is...

July 2018

July 16, 2018

Pennies from Heaven

I’ve never really been into crosses. Like fire hydrants or Starbucks, there are so many,...

July 03, 2018

Sonnets in the Prime of My Life

The sonnet, of course, is the gold standard of form, the first one most people...

February 2018

February 08, 2018

In a Funk

You’re not sorry you’re alive, just embarrassed. Aware of the burden of your body. How...

November 2017

November 23, 2017

A Tradition Without Tryptophan

November is always an interesting time for a family of vegetarians. While my three children...

June 2017

June 29, 2017

My Own Desert (Tortoise) Father

This post originally appeared on “Good Letters” on July 21, 2014. I didn’t spend enough...

January 2017

January 12, 2017

Making Contact: A Christian-Atheist Friendship, Part 2

An introduction: Decades ago, in the faraway land of Orange County, California, two young women...

December 2016

December 28, 2016

Thirty Minutes Without My Phone

The fact that a half-hour meal alone in an IHOP occasions its own blog post...

November 2016

November 22, 2016

Lashing Out at Myself

I was born with a certain level of anxiety in my blood—an electric edge that...

October 2016

October 27, 2016

Interview with a Zombie

Halloween costumes and decorations. If I’m a vampire, Pinterest is my garlic. Not only do...

October 06, 2016

The Day My Daughter Found Herself

I want you to watch me run. My daughter Becca sent me that text last...

September 2016

September 15, 2016

Unfriending, Impractical Jokes, and Other Foibles

If I were to graph my mental health over the past five years, the line...

August 2016

August 22, 2016

Sitting Together: A Week at the Glen Workshop

I’m an introvert who loves to talk, an often confusing combination that can leave me...

August 05, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Onesimus”

In this month of painful national and international news, Tania Runyan’s poem “Onesimus” offers a...

July 2016

July 13, 2016

The Cult of Emotion

As a newish, struggling Christian recovering from two years in a fundamentalist youth group, I...

June 2016

June 14, 2016

Fifty Shores of Grief

I write this the evening of June 12, 2016, the day forty-nine people died in the...

June 06, 2016

Who’s Your Daddy?

Adoptive parents develop radar for insensitive language and story lines pretty quickly. Wes Anderson’s simplistic...

May 2016

May 27, 2016

Poetry Friday: “The Manifestation” by Richard Jones

I’m a poet and believer. If anyone should spend an evening gazing at a meteor...

May 12, 2016

A Poet Walks Into a Business Networking Event

The poet gives a young woman $15 for admission, squeezes her drink ticket like a...

April 2016

April 21, 2016

Flying into Fear, Part 2

Read Part 1 here. My fear of flying made every flight I took an exhausting...

April 20, 2016

Flying into Fear, Part 1

Years ago, I worked with a woman who sold her car after a spider's nest...

April 01, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Creed in the Santa Ana Winds” by Bronwen Butter Newcott

Growing up in southern California, I experienced the uneasy allure of the Santa Ana’s hot...

March 2016

March 29, 2016

Believing in the Beach Boys

The first church I attended as a teenaged new believer swiftly taught me two doctrines:...

March 09, 2016

Finding My Inner Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane lumbered around Deadwood in fringed buckskins, spitting, cursing, and waving her whiskey flask...

February 2016

February 17, 2016

Drive-By Memory

My first memory takes place in Lakewood, CA, a small suburb south of Los Angeles....

January 2016

January 27, 2016

Where to Hang Your Grief

My daughters Lydia and Becca, ages 12 and 10, are thoroughly delighted by the contemporary...

January 06, 2016

Autistic Lives Matter

When I first met Daniel Bowman Jr. at the Festival of Faith and Writing, we...

December 2015

December 15, 2015

How to Win the War on Christmas

After thirteen years of parenting, my husband and I still know virtually nothing about raising...