A few days ago I was blogging about the prophet Elijah and his conflicts with King Ahab of Israel. Now comes Janet Howe Gaines, an English professor at the University of New Mexico, with a sympathetic -- well, at least evenhanded -- portrayal of one of the most maligned figures in history, Ahab's queen Jezebel. … Continue reading A semi-sympathetic reading of a proto-feminist Jezebel reprinted on the Biblical Archaeology Society’s website
Spiritual journal for August — further thoughts on Word and sacrament in a time of pandemic
Email sent today to my spiritual director, lightly edited. Since it quotes extensively from this blog (and WordPress isn't letting me do block quotations the way I want to), I am putting my email message in lightface italics and leaving quoted material in Roman type. Hi Sister -- [* * *] Not very much to … Continue reading Spiritual journal for August — further thoughts on Word and sacrament in a time of pandemic
An unfinished outline on a Finnish theologian: Mannermaa, theosis and Lutheran-Russian Orthodox dialog
NOTE: This is something about Luther's concept of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that I was working on last month, before I learned my proposal had been accepted for the Illinois History Conference sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum -- and my priorities changed! Now I have to crash my paper, … Continue reading An unfinished outline on a Finnish theologian: Mannermaa, theosis and Lutheran-Russian Orthodox dialog
Phillip Cary on Luther — sola scriptura with a twist of performance anxiety
Now here's a guy who's on my wavelength ... Phillip Cary, who teaches philosophy at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa., has a book out with the somewhat daunting title The Meaning of Protestant Theology: Luther, Augustine, and the Gospel That Gives Us Christ. I hadn't heard of him before, but I saw a review … Continue reading Phillip Cary on Luther — sola scriptura with a twist of performance anxiety
Martha Nussbaum on Roger Williams
Martha C. Nussbaum, "The First Founder" [review of On Religious Liberty: Selections From the Works of Roger Williams, ed. James Calvin Davis], New Republic, 9 Sept. 2008 https://newrepublic.com/article/61558/the-first-founder?fbclid=IwAR07-wz1bFDtyu3DaK-xt5yDLOoUyYo7s6Y5qjqTE-C69vNiNIk0nbv9WHI. Verbatim excerpts: ... Williams wrote many books, including two lengthy philosophical treatises that are among the major works on religious toleration in the history of Western thought. … Continue reading Martha Nussbaum on Roger Williams
‘The UK Blessing’ — in a time of fear and political rancor, a virtual choir calls, gathers, enlightens and makes us holy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUtll3mNj5U&fbclid=IwAR1A_TK23D99XEordzKjoE_uhYP7qNlMJO6T54d8QBxXLMREi5sREyrBNQA The UK Blessing -- 992,403 views (as of Monday night, May 4) -- Premiered May 3, 2020 This weekend marked the two-month anniversary of the day I went into voluntary self-quarantine when I got out of the hospital. As luck would have (good luck, for a change), a virtual choir video came out to … Continue reading ‘The UK Blessing’ — in a time of fear and political rancor, a virtual choir calls, gathers, enlightens and makes us holy
Jack Kornfield on gratitude, mindfulness, adversity (outtakes, links and quotes)
Outtakes from a post on daily practice I finished today. The final draft took a slightly different direction, but I'm copying this part of the draft here because I want to hang onto the links to Jack Kornfield here ... what he says about gratitude is so similar to the examen of St. Ignatius of … Continue reading Jack Kornfield on gratitude, mindfulness, adversity (outtakes, links and quotes)
One last post about Trump’s insult comedy shtick at that prayer breakfast — it’s time for us all to look in the mirror
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLDnhL648qI Morning Joe | MSNBC | February 7, 2020 I thought I'd gotten President Trump's performance at the National Prayer Breakfast out of my system with Thursday's post to Ordinary Time. I think of him as basically an insult comedian -- like Don Rickles, Joan Rivers and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, but smug and … Continue reading One last post about Trump’s insult comedy shtick at that prayer breakfast — it’s time for us all to look in the mirror
Luther and the cypress tree in the courtyard: How picking a new URL led me to seek refuge in a Zen koan
Courtyard at SCI-Benedictine: Cypress tree was at left, just out of picture. Like so many of the good things in life, it happened pretty much by accident. But there was an underlying logic to it. Well, maybe "logic" isn't the right word here. We're not talking about a logical syllogism as much as, oh, maybe … Continue reading Luther and the cypress tree in the courtyard: How picking a new URL led me to seek refuge in a Zen koan
Notes on a ‘Lutheran-Buddhist [identity] within the liminal and relational hyphen between traditions’ at a Jesuit college
Sound like anybody around here? When I was searching online for information about Lutheran-Buddhist relations, I found an article by Michael Reid Trice in Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education on the outlook for ecumenical relations. Along the way, he said: For Jesuit colleges and universities, this is a very bright moment. The decrees of General … Continue reading Notes on a ‘Lutheran-Buddhist [identity] within the liminal and relational hyphen between traditions’ at a Jesuit college
Ordinary Time 