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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

The Engagement of Suffering

“Well, your suffering isn’t like Job’s…” Ever hear something along those lines? Frankly, I think it is largely an ignorant statement. Suffering is hard. What compounds the hardship is the difficulty by which we try to engage people when suffering occurs. It takes courage to admit struggle and suffering. If it is met with a …

Being “Ethical” & Ethical Knowledge

There is a short passage in Kierkegaard’s Judge For Yourself! that has recently garnered my attention. While my interest in Kierkegaard is many, the focus of my research is on Kierkegaard’s epistemology. Often, however, the epistemology of Kierkegaard’s authorship surrounds the ethical-religious spheres, thereby placing interest in the subjective. In every human being there is …

Despair:Sin

Each individual is freedom essentially. Each person is free to chose oneself. This could lead to a flourishing life, or a life of continual bondage, which ultimately restricts one’s freedom. There comes a time (or, many times) in one’s life in which one finds oneself in a crux. The variables will change as much is …

Loving Your Neighbor

The biblical concept, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” has embedded within it a presupposition. Normally when preached, this statement is outwardly focused. You (subject) shall love your neighbor (object). Good. Now what? Stop. By whatever means you think you are loving your neighbor, cease temporarily. The hidden presupposition in the phrase is in …