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The Diagonal Way

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Doctrines for Various Occasions

Select a Category Church Fathers Doctrines for Various Occasions Ecotheology Eschatology Liturgical Seasons Prayer Theology and Literature Uncategorized

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October 2023

October 14, 2023

The Year of the Locust: A Sermon on War

Today I have war on my mind. A week ago, a surprise attack on Jewish...

September 2023

September 09, 2023

Does Saint Paul Believe in the Trinity?

The doctrine of the Trinity solidified as a doctrine, which is to say as a...

August 2023

August 05, 2023

Can Humans Be Holy?

In my work as a theologian, I study the language and traditions of Christian holiness....

July 2023

July 22, 2023

How Does the Cross Save?

At the center of Christian faith stands a great irony. The unwillingness of one man...

July 08, 2023

Truth’s Diagonal Dance (a reflection on Catherine Pickstock)

Pickstock's Explosive World "Truth," Catherine Pickstock says, "is both a horizontal dance in time and...

June 2023

June 24, 2023

Why do Christians say God is a Trinity?

It's Saturday: let's talk about the Trinity. (Not for the first time in this column....

January 2023

January 05, 2023

Jeremiah and Divine Emotion

The Prophetic Books are Faith-Forming Reading the prophets of Israel is tiresome work. I'm 31...

September 2022

September 26, 2022

All I Know of Holiness

The Nazarenes and Wesleyans who first gave shape to my faith taught me to care...

August 2022

August 24, 2022

What Was John’s Baptism about?

If no one knew that Jesus was the messiah yet, what was John's baptism about?...

August 20, 2022

Isaiah, or, Exodus All Over Again

In Isaiah, we learn that God's mighty acts of liberation are a non-identical repetition of...

July 2022

July 27, 2022

ROCOR: The (A) Russian Church Abroad

This summer I've continued my life-long submersion into Russian theological and intellectual culture. I've written...

July 23, 2022

Hosea, The Diagonal Prophet

The prophets of Judah and Israel are often seen as vertical in their messaging. The...

July 08, 2022

Why is Jesus of Nazareth Important?

A Patheos reader sends us this question. When it comes to faith, the ground level...

July 06, 2022

Apocalyptic Hospitality: A Sermon on Luke 10:1-20

This morning our gospel points us to what I'm going to call apocalyptic hospitality. My...

July 02, 2022

Tammy Faye and the Prosperity Gospel

Long plane rides provide guilt free screen time. Especially headed west when, the way I...

June 2022

June 15, 2022

Transformative Travel: The God I Meet Away from Home

Transformative Travel The next few blogs will be coming from the United Kingdom, where my...

June 08, 2022

Sacraments and Hospitality: Is the Table Open?

I offer today a thought or two about a theological controversy I’ve gotten myself involved...

June 01, 2022

The Gift and the Receiver: A Trinitarian Contemplation

The Prodigal Son as a Parable of the Trinity A reader of my book Leaving...

May 2022

May 28, 2022

The Meaning of Church, with Help from Gerard Manley Hopkins

What is a church? Let’s consider it specifically: the particular communities where many of us...

May 25, 2022

A Theologian’s Response to Death in Texas

Yesterday afternoon, in the final celebratory days before long awaited summer vacation in south Texas,...

May 07, 2022

Doing Theology with Integrity

Last week, in a blog about faith, I wrote the following: If we decouple self-awareness...

April 2022

April 30, 2022

Faith is Persuasion

Some time ago I had a student in my office who was having a crisis...

April 20, 2022

Is Holiness Human? Lessons from Bulgakov

“Growth in holiness and ascent from grace to grace does not occur automatically, but actively…...

April 02, 2022

The Family-Making Mystery of Christ

To be a believer, for Saint Paul, is to be part of a family formed...

March 2022

March 16, 2022

Angels: God’s Trustworthy Tempests

“The world of angels occupies in creation a place which makes it impossible to neglect...

March 09, 2022

The God of Darkness

It’s easy to trust the God of light. I am learning to trust the God...

March 04, 2022

Reading Israel’s Scriptures

I wrote earlier about the Transfiguration of Christ as an unveiling of what God experiences...

February 2022

February 23, 2022

Diagonal Forgiveness

The art of forgiveness implies a return. A turning back with graciousness to the moment...

February 19, 2022

What Fish Teach Me about Forgiveness

Forgiveness is front and center in any theology worth its name. How does it occur...

February 12, 2022

Are God’s Ways Our Ways?

God’s ways are not our ways, says Isaiah (55:8). Occasionally, when expressing frustration about something...