Stump a Bible Scholar: Wrestling with Zoroastrianism Influences
Tuesday is Stump a Scholar Day here at Patheos Progressive Christian — and no question is too tough or too radical for our experts! This month, we’re answering your questions about the Bible with...
View ArticleMark Driscoll and the Amazing Technicolor Evangelical Funhouse Mirror Sexual...
Perhaps the recent tsunami wave of “Mark Driscoll Penis House” headlines has finally subsided to the point where one can write on the subject of the American Christian sexual worldview for a reason...
View ArticleFrancis of Assisi: God’s Holy Fool
by Susan R. Pitchford I lost my heart to Francis of Assisi for the same reason I lost it to Jesus: I’m a sucker for the combination of holiness and charm. It’s been said that Francis followed in the...
View ArticleTwo Visions, One Book — That’s Just the Way It Is
Biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan argues in his book, God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now, that in the biblical tradition, both Old and New Testaments, two incompatible and...
View ArticleA Seminary Invites Silicon Valley to Play: The Launch of a New Center for...
I’ve just recently returned from an exceptionally joyful jaunt to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I learned first-hand the transformative power of play for solving real-world problems such as hunger,...
View ArticleRethinking the Bible’s Place (It’s Just the Way It Is, Part 2)
There are some Christians who give the Bible godlike homage. It might as well have come floating down from heaven on the wings of angels. Should we ascribe to the Bible divine status? In Nazi Germany a...
View ArticleChristian Piatt Takes PostChristian on the Road
Patheos blogger Christian Piatt is on the road this fall, promoting his new book PostChristian (and hosting Beer & Hymns events wherever he can), so I thought I’d pull out this interview from the...
View ArticleFive Ways to Experience an Extreme Advent
By Sybil MacBeth Author, The Season of the Nativity: Confessions of an Advent, Christmas and Epiphany Extremist I cannot remember exactly when it happened, but I think it was in a large high-end mall...
View ArticleAway With the Manger
The annual rant is upon us: Thanksgiving is still weeks away, and already the stores are full of Kristmas Krap. (As opposed to Christmas decorations, which are lovely and which show up at the...
View ArticleA New Conversation on the Death Penalty
This week (Nov. 6) Wheaton College, often called “the Harvard of Christian colleges” is hosting a forum on the death penalty. But it’s not just any forum. It has potential to reshape the way...
View ArticlePreaching as a Mad Act: A Q&A with John Holbert
“Preaching is a mad act, speaking for God to people who hardly know who God may be, proclaiming the gospel of one who came preaching and loving the world. No small task, that!” – John Holbert, Old...
View ArticleWhat Children Need To Thrive: A Review of “Their Name Is Today”
Johann Christoph Arnold’s Their Name is Today: Reclaiming Childhood in a Hostile World crossed my desk at an interesting moment in my life as an educator: I am a college professor and, recently, became...
View ArticleMaking the Most of What We Have Been Given (A Sermon on the Parable of the...
I don’t know if there is any truth to it or not, but the story is told that when Britain faced a critical shortage of silver during the days of WWII Winston Churchill launched a search of possible...
View ArticleEarly Christmas Joy: Meditating with the Advent and Christmas Stories
The joy came to me early this year, in the form of Jan Johnson’s Taste and See: Experiencing the Stories of Advent and Christmas. Johnson invites readers to enter into the stories through a sort of...
View ArticleA Spiritual Path to Gratitude
Brother David Steindl-Rast has contended in his writings that gratitude is foundational to a healthy spiritual life. If that is true, and I believe it is, then how might we expand our capacity for...
View ArticleChurch Without God
I now have the privilege of watching a remarkable experiment unfold – up-close and personal. And where better to observe an experiment than at a research university? My new colleague and friend, Bart...
View ArticleWhy President Obama’s Executive Actions Are Hostile To The Kingdom Of God:...
By the Rev. Ellin Jimmerson A factual certainty about the Bible is that the Old Testament was put together in the aftermath of the Babylonian Deportation of Jewish leadership. It cannot be fully...
View ArticleRob and Kristen Bell on the Art of Marriage (and a Few Words about Oprah)
“Life is always changing. The space between you is always changing. Marriage is this art form where you never stop exploring, discovering, and you never stop figuring it out.” – Rob Bell, bestselling...
View ArticleAdvent Begins in the Experience of the Oppressed
“If you, like the magi, seek out the newborn Jesus this season, then this is how you must prepare: by seeking out the oppressed of our world, being immersed in their experiences, crying out to God on...
View ArticleFollowing Our Heartache: The Intersection of Yoga and New Monasticism
“Yoga mats have become little island sanctuaries of peace. The time for that is over. We are now called to truly build community, to pool our talents, to share our heartaches and triumphs, and to use...
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