MODERNITY HAS HAD A BAD HABIT OF FORGETTING ITS FORERUNNERS. Too often, in our efforts to critique the status quo and pursue progress, we have cut off our cultural roots. Ironically, this problem is most apparent in the conservative Christian insistence on biblical literalism. In their attempt to return to what they imagine were the …
What Our God-Images Say About Us
IF YOU ASK PEOPLE TO DESCRIBE GOD, THEIR ANSWERS will tell you what they truly value most, what for each of them is their “ultimate concern.” For most of us, our god-images and the values they represent will be the ones generally held in the communities to which we belong. For example, the most traditional …
Looking Past “Me-or-You” and “Us-or-Them”
A CORE CHRISTIAN TRADITION ASKS US TO RESOLVE A FUNDAMENTAL TENSION in human life. When you read the biblical texts in which it appears, however, you might not feel the full force of the tension. The core tradition I’m talking about is the so-called second great commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk. …
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Our Potential as Anointed Ones
IN A 1948 ESSAY, PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN PRESENTED his “fundamental vision” of our expanding universe in which “material arrangements” are becoming increasingly complex, consciousness is reaching ever higher levels, and Christian mysticism is the “perfect energy” for driving evolution forward. (See “My Fundamental Vision” in Toward the Future, 1975, especially the discussion of mysticism, …
Views and Values Transforming
IN LAST WEEK’S POST, I SUGGESTED CHRISTIANITY IS TRANSFORMING, now, and moving onto an inclusive and enchanted path of justice and deep, experiential knowing. Although I mentioned a few “old and forgotten” practices that are becoming “new” again (like meditation and contemplation), I soon realized I didn’t say much of anything about the theology of …
The Transformation, Underway (and Underfoot)
SOMETHING TRULY REMARKABLE MAY BE HAPPENING, but it seems to be as quiet as a whisper, as invisible as a breeze. Christianity appears to be in the midst of another cycle of revolutionary change, the fourth one in its history by my count. Some may want to call it another Reformation, but it feels more …
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Moonlight in Christ’s Shadow
IF YOU LOOK AT IT PSYCHOLOGICALLY RATHER THAN THEOLOGICALLY, you’ll discover a fundamental problem with the way we see Christ. The traditional images of Christ, the ones with which we are so familiar, are all unambiguously masculine. On the one hand, we see Christ, the glorious son of God, ascended into heaven and sitting at …
The Tragic Irony of Knowing the Truth
THIS WEEK’S POST IS WILL BE A LITTLE DIFFERENT, a little more personal than usual. Here’s why. The online course I’m offering, “Jesus and the Feminine in the Gospel of John,” begins next week (see my note below). Although I’m offering it through my local church, the course is open to the public at large. …
At Noon on the Day of Preparation
WHEN JESUS COMES BEFORE PILATE, WHO’S FACING JUDGMENT? We are, according to the account in the Gospel of John (18:28-19:16). Here’s how. John’s story of Jesus before Pilate reads as if it were an episode in a play. The episode has seven scenes, alternately taking place outside and inside the governor’s fortress in Jerusalem. Here’s …
Why “Powers” and “Principalities” Still Hold Sway
ALTHOUGH MOST OF THE TIME MOST OF US DON’T RECOGNIZE IT, organizations have souls. Our ancient ancestors felt the presence of spirits everywhere, animating everything. Plato abstracted that ancient intuition into a theory of ideal heavenly archetypes standing behind all material forms. By Roman times, St. Paul and other early Christian writers could talk about …
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Soul Spirit Wisdom 