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December 2014

December 23, 2014

Before Bethlehem

Christians have a history of getting our relationship with Jews all tangled up in self-interest....

December 17, 2014

Part Two of the Curious Case of the “Kick Ass” Messiah

Last week, I gave Christian Piatt a hard time. Why? Because I thought he oversimplified...

December 10, 2014

The Curious Case of the “Kick Ass” Messiah

You see? There was no single Jewish expectation for the messiah at the time of...

November 2014

November 13, 2014

You’re Welcome

You know what I wanted to do this afternoon as I walked out the door...

October 2014

October 25, 2014

Why Protestants Should Read Jon Sweeney’s Latest Book on Saint Francis of Assisi

He moved with uncharacteristic grace and unassuming charm—but with a tenacious impulse toward inclusion and...

October 24, 2014

Double Vision, Saint Francis Style

Two Books I came to Assisi with two books, or parts of books in hand:...

October 15, 2014

Why Hasn’t Disney Bought the Rights to Jon Sweeney’s New Book on Saint Francis of Assisi?

I grew up in a Catholic neighborhood, with signs of Saint Francis everywhere. There he...

October 13, 2014

Jottings from Assisi on Jon Sweeney’s When Saint Francis Saved the Church

I read this book about St. Francis of Assisi all wrong. I should have read...

September 2014

September 17, 2014

Three Nuns

Tucked into the second page of the Seattle Times under the heading, Newsline, and subheading,...

September 04, 2014

Ebola, Faith, and Friends of Ours

Yesterday, Anderson Cooper interviewed Nancy Writebol and her husband. Nancy is an American ebola survivor...

August 2014

August 11, 2014

Mark Driscoll Needs a Prophet of His Own

So here's what I suggest. Mark Driscoll should take some of his royalties and hire...

July 2014

July 23, 2014

Golden Boy

But that shy boy has, at least for now, at least last night, something that...

June 2014

June 26, 2014

A Wee Little Man and a Big Insight

When I put these together, I saw something glaring. My actions were exactly backwards, a...

June 12, 2014

A Memorial Service, Memory, and the Eventual Gifts of Suffering

Last night was the memorial service, not just for Paul Lee, who died on Thursday,...

June 11, 2014

Christian Prayer as Media Event

My colleague, Rick Steele, wrote this essay for TIME magazine online in the aftermath of the shooting...

June 10, 2014

Seattle Pacific University as Our Place and the Poetry of Wendell Berry

As faculty, staff, and students grapple with the goings on at SPU, we discover gems....

June 09, 2014

After the Shooting at SPU: Consolation, Desolation–and Hope

On the day of the shooting at SPU, the religion editor at Huffington Post asked...

June 05, 2014

The Church is Dead, but Don’t Tell the Pentecostals!

We can sneer at the Pentecostals, given the aberrations and excesses of their faith, but...

May 2014

May 21, 2014

Garage Sale Antics and the Church in Antioch: Reflections on Generosity

Their giving wasn’t determined by how much was needed but by how much they had...

April 2014

April 25, 2014

The Book to Begin on Holocaust Remembrance Day

But there are other tears to be wept in The Family. In an eerie parallel...

April 16, 2014

Doves and Kisses–A Reading on Betrayal

As I read Psalm 55, I couldn't shake the rhythm of betrayal in the gospel...

April 10, 2014

Intimacy with God and a Blindfolded Boy

Then on Thursday night, in a nondescript room in the Columbus Ohio convention center, I...

March 2014

March 31, 2014

Asses to Ashes: How to Rescue the Rest of Lent

We're more than halfway through Lent. It began on Ash Wednesday, March 5th. It ends...

March 17, 2014

Cars, Planes, and Gospel Grenades: the Technological Tactics of Women Evangelists

These largely unsung entrepreneurial women evangelists resolved to settle down and build institutions, often financing...

March 10, 2014

Making America Christian: a forgotten history

Two decades ago, as I did my class prep for an introductory lecture on American...

February 2014

February 14, 2014

Some Pretty Good Advice from Ecclesiastes for Valentine’s–and Every Other–Day

That rundown Ramada Inn is where she first slipped her hand along the back of...

January 2014

January 19, 2014

My Dad’s Old Purple Dinosaur Tie and the Creation-evolution Debate

Regardless of your point of view—Jewish or Christian, secular or spiritual, liberal or conservative—it’s invariably...

January 06, 2014

An Ambiguous Little Trickle of the Holy Spirit

This sense of yearning — or is it inadequacy? — for something new, something spectacular,...

December 2013

December 12, 2013

Simeon’s Song and the Clarity of Christmas

If you want an actual model for receiving the guidance of the holy spirit, look...

November 2013

November 28, 2013

Thankful Thanksgiving, Black and Blue Saints

The Greek word, eucharistia, from which we get the English word, eucharist—the breaking of bread...