Shalomic Imagination

Beyond Indifference

Here is a short clip of Elie Wiesel urging us to move beyond indifference – “fight indifference”. It seems to me that indifference is the fuel powering power. Indifference when combined with fear makes tyranny almost inevitable. Incarnate-grace may be the Christ response.

Dwight J. Friesen August 1, 2005September 9, 2022

“Opposite of Free Love”

You’ve got to check out this article sex trafficking by Jennifer Goodson: The Opposite of Free Love: Dispatches from the World of Human Trafficking. www.protectionproject.org www.awid.org www.protest4.com peace, dwight

Dwight J. Friesen July 20, 2005September 12, 2022

faith & race

Eugene Cho and Q-Seattle are hosting a conference addressing Faith & Race with Bob Ekblad. One of the great opportunities for today’s white – majority culture – church is to step with even greater intentionality and resolve into conversations exploring the

Dwight J. Friesen July 6, 2005November 3, 2022

Relational Hell?

If you have visited my site before than you know that I take pretty seriously the notion that relations form identity. I would go so far to say that understanding of self is impossible without the other. As I sit

Dwight J. Friesen June 23, 2005January 14, 2021

India’s Dalits

I have recently come in contact with Sunil Sadar, who gives leadership to the Truth Seekers Society, a group that seeks to serve and liberate the repressed castes of India known as the Dalits. The Dalits are the “untouchables” or “outcastes”

Dwight J. Friesen June 17, 2005October 3, 2022

peace thru division

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

Dwight J. Friesen May 13, 2005October 4, 2022

God’s Politics

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

Dwight J. Friesen February 23, 2005September 14, 2022

who is God for?

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

Dwight J. Friesen January 21, 2005October 12, 2022

Multi-Faith Peace Walk

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

Dwight J. Friesen December 31, 2004September 28, 2022

world aids day

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

Dwight J. Friesen November 30, 2004October 26, 2022

the eve of thanksgiving

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

Dwight J. Friesen November 24, 2004October 25, 2022

Confessing Christ in a World of Violence

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

Dwight J. Friesen November 6, 2004September 28, 2022

sermon on the mount & buy nothing

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

Dwight J. Friesen November 3, 2004November 25, 2022

S’lichot & 9-11

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

Dwight J. Friesen September 12, 2004September 13, 2022

Anabaptist & Loving It!

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

admin August 11, 2004November 25, 2022

playground & violence

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

Dwight J. Friesen August 8, 2004November 26, 2022

what i want my words to do to you

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

Dwight J. Friesen August 3, 2004May 5, 2022

used/useful?

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

Dwight J. Friesen July 14, 2004May 5, 2022

Real Friendship

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

Dwight J. Friesen July 7, 2004November 28, 2022

Triune Living

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.

Dwight J. Friesen July 5, 2004November 28, 2022

Such Kindness… Thank You

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

Dwight J. Friesen July 1, 2004November 29, 2022

What is Life?

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

Dwight J. Friesen June 30, 2004November 29, 2022

Dialogue… Why?

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

Dwight J. Friesen June 29, 2004November 29, 2022

Thank You Kansas City & Jacob’s Well

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

Dwight J. Friesen June 16, 2004November 29, 2022

The Divine Comma

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

Dwight J. Friesen May 21, 2004November 30, 2022

Love of Other as Self Love?

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

Dwight J. Friesen May 20, 2004November 30, 2022

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