Trust The Child
Let the conversation begin with wonder....I've just co-directed a three year project on The Child in Religion, Law, and Society and written a book on The Mystery of the Child .
Spirituality Archives
December 6, 2006 11:40 AM
Comments (3)January 4, 2007 11:00 AM
Dying Strangers Lifted Me Up
In the autumn of 1947, when I knew I wanted to write, but was giving Christian ministry as a vocational choice a chance, I was sent to do "field work" at an old-style tuberculosis sanitarium in St Louis.
February 2, 2007 7:39 AM
Prayer Is Conversation
Do I pray? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says (Matt. 6:5): "Don't tell." But since you asked: "Yes."
February 11, 2007 1:15 AM
Religious Leaders Should Assail Hypocritical Views on Environment
Religious leaders should make concern for the environment one of the two or three top issues. If we do not survive, we do not do anything else, either. And "we," our descendants, will not survive on our present course.
April 9, 2007 12:13 PM
No Resurrection, No Hope
I celebrated with most of the two billion people called by the name of Jesus Christ. In a way, that answers the question.
April 18, 2007 9:45 PM
No "Why?" Answers
"Our tradition," Christian "of the Lutheran persuasion," if it is true to Luther and the originating documents refuses even to try to answer the "why" the killing happened--except in respone to what can be known about the warped mind of the killer. That is, we cannot answer "why" one student was spared and another hit.
May 3, 2007 10:32 AM
Admired, but From a Distance
From 1890, when scholars first started computing, until the 1930s, not once was an article in a mainstream secular or religious publication favorable to the Mormons.
In the 1930s their reputation began to change when, in the midst of the Depression, word went around that "they take care of their own." Mormon versions of communalism did mean that the poor among them were better off than many others. If it meant that they were not dependent upon the federal government, this was a mis-impression: Utah, their stronghold, received as much help as other such states.
October 28, 2007 2:40 PM
Hallowe'en
How scary is Hallowe'en?
As scary as costume-makers, party-givers, and commercial interests want to make it. The morning after the costumes get packed away, the residues of the parties get mopped up, and the markets get ready for Christmas and Valentine's Day sales. It's hard to picture many children being traumatized or adults converted, or deconverted, by the evening's doings. It is not scary at all to those who do not don costumes, go to parties, or buy black and orange objects. It's hard to picture many of them being much different than they were before the occasion.
Is it anti-Christian?
Is it anti-Jewish?
Is it pro-pagan?
If I wanted to undercut or oppose Christianity or Judaism, I could find many better investments than putting energy into the mix of pseudo-symbols associated with Hallowe'en. Pseudo? Not many of the symbols rise out of the historic evidences of the classic faiths; these tend to be cartoon caricatures, far removed from the beliefs and practices of the Christian middle ages, and unrecognizable by anyone who knows much about classical witchcraft. And if I were a pagan, a witch, a promoter of Wicca, I'd look for more serious ways to present the cases.
When Christians and Jews over-react to phenomena like this, they show more about their outlook--prissy, aggrieved, defensive--than about actual challenges to faith. My advice to co-religionists: when someone says "boo!", say "boo!" back, and go about your business. That responsive "boo!" could mean: "see you tomorrow, November 1"--and if it's a Christian with whom the "boo!-boo!" exchange is going on, remind the other partner to the conversation that November 1 is All Saints' Day, a day which for Christians is a serious holiday of remembrance.
