Philosophy

  • Believing in grace means living in grace.

    ·

    24. Christians should be taught that belief unused is unbelief and a damning of God’s generous mercy. Much of what passes for faith or Christian theology is not a profound truth, but a riddle. We aren’t being honest with each other or ourselves; we’re unwittingly playing a game of deception. What I mean by riddle…

    Read More

  • Just do the right thing.

    ·

    If we whittle down our faith, we are left with two base ideas: what we believe and what we do. There is nothing more traditional in Christian faith than arguing over which one is better. Betting on God. Blaise Pascal made my favorite case for belief. Unlike most apologetics, which argue the case for God’s…

    Read More

  • The one acceptable hypocrisy

    ·

    The biggest problem we’re facing in the 21st Century involves the limits of inclusion. It is at the heart of the so-called culture war, the immigration debate, and post-9/11 foreign policy. We are seeing it now in matters of race: in policing and in flags: and in matters of guns and safety. And we are (quite remarkably)…

    Read More

  • Can a tire swing not be made from a tire?

    ·

    My daughter and I went to a park in Marquette, Michigan last week. Wood play scape, swings, everything. I was drawn to this blue tire swing. When I got there, I discovered it isn’t a tire swing. It is a round swing of molded plastic that looks like a tire swing. But it can’t be.…

    Read More

  • In Two Worlds

    ·

    a Homily for the First Sunday After Pentecost, year B Text: John 3:1-17  click here for the audio seeing with different eyes The most important verse in this morning’s pericope is not John 3:16, but 3:8. Here’s how we get there. As you may have noted, we covered this part of Scripture back in Lent.…

    Read More

  • Will Willimon: Ayn Rand and Christmas

    ·

    Will Willimon has written a great piece on what Ayn Rand represents to us right now. In college an older student handed me a book, solemnly saying, “This tells the truth.” The next day I read Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” cover-to-cover. Even as a freshman I could tell it was a poorly written novel. I assumed Rand’s bloated…

    Read More

  • Sometimes They Do Equal 5

    ·

    I do think that sometimes 1+1=5.  That doesn’t make me crazy.  It means that we ought to account for our own blind spots.  To help me explain, I’ve recruited my own daughter. As you can see, she has written an interesting equation on the white board.  She is so proud of it, she wrote it…

    Read More