Patheos

BuddhistCatholicContemplativeEvangelicalGeneral ChristianHinduJewishLatter-day SaintMuslimNew VisionsProgressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Patheos

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube

The Peripatetic Preacher

2020-12-14T17:29:05-05:00

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.

The Peripatetic Preacher A Hero With an Unlikely Face

Last updated on: December 14, 2020 at 5:29 pm   By John C Holbert

In a time of pandemic when stories of loss and agony and untold pain flood our screens and papers, today I want to bring you a tale of a most unlikely, but most welcome, hero. His name is Gabriel Sterling, and his official title is “statewide voting system implementation manager” for the state of Pennsylvania. He is a chunky 50-year- old, boyish-faced, lifelong Republican supporter, having worked in various campaigns for that party for nearly all his life. He even... Read more

Uncategorized

2020-12-12T15:48:11-05:00

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.

The Peripatetic Preacher We Need Jesus and Voltaire

Last updated on: December 12, 2020 at 3:48 pm   By John C Holbert

Yesterday, I wrote an essay that I titled “Protocols of the Elders of Trump,” riffing on the scurrilous 1903 anti-Semitic pamphlet, “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” I suggested that the shelf life of that nasty work, embodied most appallingly in Nazi Germany, was all too long and disastrous, feeding anti-Semitic frenzy in many countries and among many people down to this day. In like manner, Donald Trump and his numerous enablers, have poisoned our cultural atmosphere, as they continue... Read more

Uncategorized

2020-12-11T19:00:36-05:00

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.

The Peripatetic Preacher The Protocols of the Elders of Trump

Last updated on: December 11, 2020 at 7:00 pm   By John C Holbert

In 1903 a scurrilous pamphlet was published in Russian, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” purporting to be a much older document describing the supposed plot hatched by unnamed powerful Jews for world domination. Though the essay was revealed as a lie by The London Times in 1921 and the Frankfurter Zeitung in Germany in 1924, and though Henry Ford, a notorious anti-Semite, paid for 500,000 copies of this rag to be distributed in the US during the 1920’s,... Read more

Uncategorized

2020-12-09T15:24:13-05:00

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.

The Peripatetic Preacher “Lies and Mendacity”: Aaron, Peter, and Donald Trump

Last updated on: December 9, 2020 at 3:24 pm   By John C Holbert

I steal my title today from that famous Tennessee Williams play, “Cat on a Hot Tine Roof,” when Big Daddy cries out in a kind of summary of the piece, “lies and mendacity!” In some 42 days, the current occupant of the White House, no slouch in the lies and mendacity department, will exit that famous abode and return to his sumptuous Florida estate. Trump’s lies or truth-stretching or resort to “alternative facts,” call it what you will, began early... Read more

Uncategorized

2020-12-08T14:42:55-05:00

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.

The Peripatetic Preacher Distraction Disaster: Donald Trump and King Solomon

Last updated on: December 8, 2020 at 2:42 pm   By John C Holbert

I need not repeat the withering list of horrifying data pouring out of newspapers and news channels with regard to the startling surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths in this second week of December, 2020. The numbers are nothing less than catastrophic, on course certainly for many millions more infections and perhaps one-half million total deaths by Spring, 2021. That later figure represents more than all US American deaths in all wars fought in the nation’s 20th century history—nothing short... Read more

Uncategorized

2020-12-07T15:24:32-05:00

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.

The Peripatetic Preacher Never Give Up the Power: Donald Trump and Samuel the Prophet

Last updated on: December 7, 2020 at 3:24 pm   By John C Holbert

In this second week in December, 2020, a full five weeks after the November presidential election, an increasing number of persons in the country, even a piddling number of Republicans (only 27 of some 240 polled), are beginning to say publically that Joe Biden is in fact and without doubt the President-elect of US America, and come Jan.20, 2021 will actually be inaugurated and will move into the White House, forcing the incumbent of the moment to find other quarters.... Read more

Uncategorized

2020-12-02T14:45:45-05:00

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.

The Peripatetic Preacher Stealing an Election–Biblically

Last updated on: December 2, 2020 at 2:45 pm   By John C Holbert

There is something distinctly bizarre about what has happened since the presidential election nearly a month ago. Joe Biden is beyond any reasonable doubt president-elect of the USA, and Donald Trump will be vacating the White House on or before Jan.20, 2021. But, of course, that phrase “reasonable doubt” has not precluded various followers of the current president, with the vocal support of that president himself, from refusing to admit that Biden has in fact won the race. Just yesterday... Read more

Uncategorized

2020-12-01T17:06:08-05:00

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.

The Peripatetic Preacher 1st Sunday of Christmas December 27, 2020 Isaiah 61:10-62:3 “New Leadership”

Last updated on: December 1, 2020 at 5:06 pm   By John C Holbert

I have doing a good bit of thinking over this election season about leadership. The utter and nearly complete lack of leadership during the monstrous and growing COVID- 19 pandemic from those we look to for help, namely from the president and his administration, has been so egregious that some have claimed that many thousands who have died from the virus did so needlessly due to the void to be found in Washington, D.C. While the virus raged, Mr. Trump... Read more

Uncategorized

2020-12-01T14:59:08-05:00

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.

The Peripatetic Preacher The UM Cross and Flame—Time for a Change

Last updated on: December 1, 2020 at 2:59 pm   By John C Holbert

My denomination, United Methodism, has had more than its share of controversies over the 50 years of my ordination as a UM clergyperson. I began my seminary training in Dallas in 1968, the year that the Evangelical United Brethren church and the Methodist Church merged to become the United Methodist Church at a Dallas Uniting Conference. At the same time at that conference, the old “Central Jurisdiction,” a group of African-American churches, joined as well into the new UMC. For... Read more

Uncategorized

2020-11-24T15:29:28-05:00

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.

The Peripatetic Preacher Music Hath Charms…

Last updated on: November 24, 2020 at 3:29 pm   By John C Holbert

You may recognize a quotation from Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” from Act 5 that poetically hymns the power and human value of music. “What sweet music creeps into my ear.” Lorenzo here woos Jessica with music amid “the soft stillness of the night.” The title of my essay today comes from William Congreve’s 1697 play, “The Mourning Bride.” The fuller quotation is: “Music hath charms that soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak,” a... Read more

Uncategorized

Follow Us!

Follow Us on Facebook



TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "As for me, I know that my redeemer lives"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Abraham Job Joseph Moses


Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 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


TRENDING AT PATHEOS Progressive Christian

Brandy Anderson, Team Weird, and Transcending Church

I met author Brandy Anderson on Heretic Happy Hour, when podcaster Keith...

Why Christians Have a Sacred Duty to Vote:...

The Bible offers strong support for the sacred duty to vote. Here...

What Being a Modern-Day Apostle Means to Me

In my last column, I discussed the ins and outs of modern-day...

Did Ancient China Once Worship the God of...

Across human history, a common thread weaves through the origins of the...

Love Your Neighbor – Including Earth-Kin: Lev. 19,...

God’s command to love your neighbor means acting in an ethical and...

Lead a Church Study of “Jesus and Lao...

Guest writer Jack Thomas (The Irreverent Reverend) reflects on leading his church...

view all Progressive Christian blogs

Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Copyright 2008-2026, Patheos. All rights reserved.

Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In

Follow Patheos Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube