Goshen College history professor, John D. Roth recently delivered one of the C. Henry Smith Lectures. A .pdf of his lecture is available here, “Called to One Peace: Christian Faith and Political Witness in a Divided Culture“. Written by and
Jon Stewart from Comedy Central’s “The Dailey Show” recently interviewed Jim Wallis of Harvard/Sojourners regarding Jim’s new book. The interview is only eight minutes long and worth viewing. Peace, dwight
In my preparations for an up coming class that I get to team each – we as a faculty – needed a few case studies to open up the kinds of conversations that might help us to bring into our
Tonight I’ve been invited to offer a prayer for peace from my spiritual tradition at this year’s multi-faith peace walk around Green Lake. Interfaith Community Sanctuary is organizing the event which has seen hundreds of people from a wide array
Tomorrow (12.1.2004) is World Aids Day. NPR has an informative AIDs report. More than 15 million children around the world have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. Each one of these children has a name. Each one needs hope. Think
Tomorrow America sets aside the day to be especially aware of the people, communities, place, opportunities, events, things, etc., for whom/which we are thankful. I’m learning to appreciate that saying, “Americans have much to be thankful for,” is a more
A new confession of Christ. I wholeheartedly endorse this statement. Thanks to Jim Wallis and the thoughtful people over at Sojourners. Peace, dwight 1. Jesus Christ, as attested in Holy Scripture, knows no national boundaries. Those who confess his name
Just thought I’d post a reminder that there is a collective effort to make a stand in the face of “mindless consumerism.” For a number of years Adbusters has been promoting “Buy Nothing Day” as means of raising awareness and
It was a friend’s birthday yesterday. Her birthday was forever changed three years ago. As you know, yesterday was the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks that we now simply refer to as 9-11. Yesterday was also Jewish S’lichot in
I grew up in Southern Manitoba (Canada). This was and still is Mennonite country. Mennonites are a Christian religious sect in the Anabaptist tradition taking our name from a dynamic Dutch leader named Menno Simmons, who was born in Friesland
As you my know, I am strive to live a life of non-violence. Well, I had lunch with Paul Steinke yesterday and we were talking about violence and Christian responses and he was lovingly challenging me on my stance, and
Last night Lynette and I watched a wonderfully hopeful documentary entitled, “What I Want My Words to Do to You.” Inmates at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women try to determine whether redemption is really possible after committing a crime
My heart is a bit heavy tonight. The glass of water that is my life appears to be half empty; yes I know that’s only a half-truth. I have this sense that I am being used and discarded. It’s a
I’m in the process of doing a deep dive into feminist theology. So much of it resonates, opens me up, and is giving me even better language. I’m discovering that I share even more feminist concerns regarding the results of
Many people have commented on the resurgence of Protestant Trinitarian writing and research post-Barth. In an era where the postfoundational, postcritical, postmodern, post-etc. reign supreme, objective propositional claims of truth no longer carry the weight they once carried with certainty.
So I was at Café Vita in Capital Hill with Paul Steinke yesterday. We met at 2 in the afternoon, and I found free parking – yippee. I love talking with Paul, he is one of those people who makes
A little more than 50 years ago, Nobel laureate Erwin Schrödinger delivered a series of lectures which – as they often do – turned into a book entitled, “What is life?” Schrödinger’s exploration of this question has been visited and
If all philosophy, theology etc. is a form of biography then, have we come to a point where all debate is ad hominem? By a “form of biography” I’m following in the footsteps of William James McLendon and many others
Well, I’m home for one day and then I’m off again. This is not the way my life has usually is… how do people who travel all the time get the everyday stuff done? I spent the last couple of
The other day in a session with a spiritual directee, our conversation led us to explore Divine punctuation. Gracie Allen once said, “Never put a period where God puts a comma.” We seem to endlessly edit God’s text. Maybe God’s
In a 1986 interview with Didier Cahen, Jacques Derrida said, “Narcissism! There is not narcissism and non-narcissism; there are narcissisms that are more or less comprehensive, generous, open, extended. What is called non-narcissism is in general but the economy of
I’ve been wondering a little bit about ‘matter.’ Does anyone know if scientists think that new matter is coming in to existence all the time or is the amount of matter static and only the distribution of matter changes, or
A Daily Prayer by Saint Teresa of Calcutta Dear Jesus, Help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only
Some penetrating questions were posted in response to some journal entries during Holy Week, and I would like to spend some time engaging them further. Anyone who knows me or something of my narrative, knows that the certainty with which
In-between. Holy Saturday is in many ways, the day of Holy Week most like our day-to-day lives. Holy Saturday is one of those days that Christ-followers may well have looked back on with almost a “now but not yet” sense.
It is Holy Friday. Jesus is dead. And so are the hopes of Jesus’ followers. And when hope moves out, fear and fear’s friends quickly move in. Mary tenderly holds the lifeless body of her son… her little boy. “What
I’ve received a couple of follow-up emails from friends asking what’s prompted my dump of questions in 3/21’s entry. First off, yes, I am well aware of the self-deconstructive tone of my questions. Many of those questions reflect my personal
What is power in a loving relationship? When John Calvin wrote, that he was – among other things – seeking a way for the church to be kept pure without “the Church,” thus there was great safety in the system
Complexity seems to find its fullness in beauty. So I’m not sure I connect as much with the subtle message that complexity is bad and beauty is good. Some people speak of God as a God of order rather than
Last night I had the opportunity to take a few minutes in a class at Mars Hill Grad School to present a boiled-down version of my Scale-Free Kingdom/Churches as Christ-Clusters paradigm. Dr. Bryan Burton who is guiding the theology course