"The greatest need of our time," Thomas Merton said, "is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds and makes of all the political and social life a mass illness. Without this housecleaning we cannot begin to see." Like many, I have bought into the political rhetoric of 21st [...]
A Tale of Two Visions
On a cold and brisk November night in 2008, I rushed from the CTA train to Grant Park in Chicago. More specifically, I sprinted across the city, jaywalking and dodging cars. I somehow managed to find my friends to chant "Yes we did!" on the night of Barack Obama's first presidential victory. It was a [...]
The Sin of Being Good
Earlier this year, Bible scholar Peter Enns published a book titled, The Sin of Certainty. The central thesis is that American evangelicalism confuses what faith is. Instead of a relationship of trust and questioning, faith is often mutated into a charade of certainty. I borrow Enns' title for my own purposes, exchanging certainty with "being good." Whereas Enns [...]
There’s No Charge for Kindness
About a week before Christmas I was walking out of a store along Colfax Avenue in Denver. Unexpected snow had fallen a few days prior, making many of the sidewalks slippery. In a rush, I walked swiftly out of the store and less than a block later found myself momentarily airborne as a patch of [...]
Media & Individuality in the Age of Fake News
It is no surprise that in an age of post-truth that fake news flourishes. When facts become trivial and discredited by our personal biases, we become easily swayed by what we want to believe. The compelling nature that truth should possess is ignored.
Help! Trump is Coming to Thanksgiving!
To keep you growing is to keep you vulnerable to life and love itself. -Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance Two weeks after the presidential election, the yelling and fighting continues. It's not outlandish or hyperbolic to think that this will continue for some time, long past the inauguration in January. For many, the election may cause [...]
‘Arrival’ and the Beauty of Communication
As is common each year for a close group of friends and I, we have begun our theater tour of all the films generating Oscar buzz. It’s a ritual we enjoy. We view good films, drink beer, and have excellent conversation regarding the films we see. This past week, we saw Arrival, a science fiction [...]
Nomad: A Review
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, & [...]
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 [...]
