What comes into your mind when you hear the word apocalypse? Most of us think of us think of the total destruction of the world, or at least life as we know it. Think zombies roaming the streets, feasting on brains. On the other hand, my sarcastic generation is doing a pretty good job of …
One of the greatest strengths of the Quaker tradition is that each of us is encouraged to discover the risen presence of Jesus for ourselves. It is not enough to read about Christ in the Bible, or to recite theological statements. Our faith is not based in our ideas about God, but in our lived relationship withGod. This kind of …
…Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. – Luke 14:33 As many Christians react to the emotionally tone-deaf excesses of fundamentalism, some of us have come to believe that we should “not take the Bible literally.” When I hear folks say this, I generally think I …
I recently read Christianity After Religion by Diana Butler Bass, in which she argues that the Church in the United States is losing its hold on the imagination of its people. She offers evidence that mainstream Christianity in America is entering into a period of sharp decline, mirroring the decay of Christendom in Western Europe …
It would be fair to say I have a lot of balls in the air. In addition to the work I do for Earlham School of Religion, I am involved in planting a new Quaker Meeting, doing foreclosure resistance with Occupy Our Homes DC, organizing with Occupy Faith and Occupy Church, and meeting various responsibilities …
“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” -Jesus in John 17:14-15 To what extent …
“Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” – John the Baptist, Matthew 3:9 There are few things more dangerous than the comfort and hardness that overtakes a community with a proud heritage. The …