Vulnerability. I hope that’s an alternative title Brandan Robertson considered for his excellent first book, Nomad. Perhaps for many of you, Brandan needs no introduction. For those of you unfamiliar with his work, Brandan is the Executive Director of Nomad Partnerships and is a frequent contributor to major outlets such as Patheos, Huffington Post, & …
Author Archives: michaeldstark
2015: The Year My Faith Became Free
2015 was one of those years that, upon quick reflection, you want to forget. On an international level, there’s been chaos. Violent extremism ravages our world. Bias and prejudice plague us. Guns continue to kill. On a personal level, there has been family hardship and difficult times. I was also let go from my teaching …
The King & the Maiden: Kierkegaard’s Christmas Parable
I’m largely going to leave this post to Kierkegaard’s own words from his famous “The King & the Maiden” parable from his book, Philosophical Fragments. I do want to offer a few cursory thoughts as to why this parable is significant for us this Christmas season. Invoking “The King & the Maiden” is not new …
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O Come, Emmanuel
As my roommate and I were finishing our meal at a restaurant in Denver last night, a trio of women came and sat at the open spot at the communal table at which we were dining. We exchanged some brief pleasantries, and at one point one of the women started talking about her colleague who …
The Sacred Space of Absence
The desert is a vacancy. It is a place of silence. It is harsh, both in its design and its impact. Yet even in a place as treacherous as the desert, one finds resilience. And it’s beautiful. The thing about the desert, as with all nature, is its welcome embrace of those who find themselves …
Shut Up & Learn to Listen
I’m a white, straight, middle-class, American male. These demographic features have awarded me a lot of privilege and paths to success (even though I would not consider myself “successful” by society’s standards). These demographics have, by and large, led to a life free of any real persecution and hardship that many others who have different …
Embracing Empathy, Embracing Liberation
I’ve lately been reflecting on the relationship between liberation, empathy, and how we view others. In our internet age, we so often quickly succumb to mocking others in their very public failures. Whether it is a celebrity or sports star who has made a poor choice leading to public shame or yet another political scandal, …
Learning about Christ from an Unlikely Source
One of the glorious things about studying philosophy and theology is that sometimes you find allies in unlikely places. Lately, the “antichrist” himself – Friedrich Nietzsche has become a bit of a refuge with an interpretation of certain aspects of the Gospels. As I’ve been re-reading through Miroslav Volf’s marvelous text Exclusion & Embrace as …
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Have We Become Numb to Stories of Violence?
Like most days, I spent my lunch on Thursday outside browsing some of my favorite websites. As I clicked my browser on I, like many, read early reports of yet another school shooting, this time in Oregon. And then I casually moved on to another site. And then I stopped. My immediate thought was not …
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Loving With
I’ve once again been reflecting and reading through Kierkegaard’s Works of Love. In it, he discusses the duty Christians have to Love one another. This is the greatest commandment, and one which should be elevated above all other instructions. Kierkegaard spends a great amount of time explaining his discourse on Love. It should be noted …
Former Aspiring Philosopher 