Emerging into Adult Faith
[This month Patheos hosts a fascinating conversation on life’s rites of passage. Here’s my contribution to it.] The sun shines. The lake glimmers. This summer, like summers past, an adult […]
Reading, Identification, and Vocation
It was the intervention of Caesar Augustus which, one day long ago, saved one of the most celebrated narratives of ancient history. Virgil’s last wish was to burn his epic […]
The End of Narrative
I have often wanted to ask my theologian-friends if narratives can exist apart from sin. I use the word sin because of its suggestion of brokenness, of problems, of doubt, […]
What is the Point of Living?
Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, The bridall of the earth and skie: The dew shall weep thy fall to night; For thou must die. (From ‘Vertue,’ by […]
Hearing the Silence
Despite all our highly rational arguments for or against God’s existence, a lot of the time, the issues are far simpler – more an experience than a theory. That experience […]
Power Reveals
In February 1st, 1933, two days after Hitler’s election as chancellor of Germany, a young theologian gave a radio address on the theme of leadership in Berlin. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was […]
Passion births life-long union
There is a song which has been following me lately. Everywhere I go it is playing – at the coffee shop, the radio throughout the day – and it is […]
Can miracles really happen?
Miracles. Big ones. Things like raising dead people or walking on water. How on earth are we meant to believe such things in the 21st Century? David Hume, perhaps the […]
Χριστος Ανεστη
During the Easter season, Christians have traditionally greeted each other with the words “Christ is risen!,” to which the faithful reply, “He is risen, indeed!” The tradition is seldom practiced […]
An Evolutionary Tale of Riders and Elephants
A helpful, colorful metaphor is something of a rarity in academic writing. Especially in the halls of science, where scholars across disciplines often invoke specialized concepts and technical jargon, the […]
Wondering Fair 