Philosophy
Do I Love the Church?
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to…
Read MoreBook Review: The Divine Magician by Peter Rollins
Peter Rollins’ new book, The Divine Magician: The Disappearance of Religion and the Discovery of Faith, is a provocative theological reflection, and to my mind is Rollins’ best work yet. The book picks up where his previous work, The Idolatry of God, ended by reiterating that the meaning-laden concept of “God” can actually be the…
Read MoreA Quick Update on Life and a Reason for Radio Silence
Hello all! As some of may have heard, my research proposal to the Christian Congregational Music Conference has been accepted! I am extremely happy for this opportunity, and have a busy few months of research ahead of me. My proposal is to study the correlation between style of music (genre) performed in a given congregation during Sunday services…
Read MoreA Legacy of Fear
For much of my life I have been plagued by fear. When I was a small boy I would have debilitating anxiety attacks; most kids are afraid at night, but I was hysterically, irrationally afraid of something getting me in my sleep. So I wouldn’t sleep.When I was a little older, I was terrified of…
Read MoreLet’s Talk About Non-Violence
I made a commitment to non-violence in 2009, after surviving the coup that ousted Honduran then-president Manuel Zalaya. It wasn’t that singular event that persuaded me to commit to peace, but was rather a long series of events that culminated in a so called “moment of clarity.” AntecedentsMy spiritual heritage finds its roots in the…
Read MoreLet’s Talk About Tone
Over the past few months my social media channels have become more and more saturated with social debates on a broad range of topics. As I have sought to engage these topics effectively, I have become more and more combative in my engagements. This is not due to an intention but to a lack thereof.…
Read MoreWhy Am I A Christian?
After a long conversation with an atheistic friend, he turned to me and asked–with great gentleness and compassion–“so why are you a Christian?” It seems that after the conversation he was unable to see how anything I was saying (and let me be clear, this was not an evangelistic conversation) needed a “god” figure to…
Read MoreBleed.
This has been a summer where every ounce of optimism I had about being a Christian was vaporized like so much water in the California drought of public opinion. This has been a summer like so many others that will stand as the harbinger of things to come. From ISIS to Ukraine to Ferguson to…
Read MoreA New Language
Do you know anyone who is a racist? Or, better yet, do you know anyone who would claim to be a racist? Do you know anyone who would not object heartily if he were called a racist and refuse to accept that he was such? A word devoid of meaning It seems to me that…
Read MoreThem
There is no shortage of rhetoric regarding the division of people. From racial divisions to cultural divisions; from socioeconomic divisions to religious divisions. It seems that humanity has some ingrained nature to construct barriers to determine who is or is not a part of my group. By what they are not. Group identity is a…
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