spirituality

Pensée #5: Stanley Hauerwas on the System vs. the Kingdom

Pavlovian Pop-Worship versus Traditional Liturgies: On (just) going through the motions at church

A common reaction that I get from fellow twenty-somethings when I say I go to an Anglican church is a mixture of confusion and contempt.  I regularly get befuddled, exasperated, and even concerned queries of Why? when I express my appreciation for ancient, liturgical forms of worship. Now, I certainly don’t expect it to be obvious to … Continue reading »

Pensée #4: Henri Nouwen on Pastoral Conversation

“…[Pastoral] conversation is not merely a skillful use of conversational techniques to manipulate people into the Kingdom of God, but a deep human encounter in which people are willing to put their own faith and doubt, their own hope and despair, their own light and darkness at the disposal of others who want to find … Continue reading »

The Bible, Human Reason, and their Limits: The Poverty of “Deductive Approaches to Scripture”

By his own admission, Jesus didn’t know everything.  After warning the disciples about the great, apocalyptic trials that were soon to fall upon Jerusalem and about his own parousia, Jesus says, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt 24:36)  And, as … Continue reading »

C.S. Lewis on the Bible: Myth, Truth, Fact, and Genesis

If Genesis’s creation stories are mythological, does that mean that the whole Bible is just a myth?  And if Genesis’s early chapters are myth, doesn’t that mean that they are false?  As I showed in my last post in this series, C.S. Lewis thought that, strictly speaking, Genesis’s creation accounts were, in fact, ancient myths which God … Continue reading »

Henri Nouwen: From Loneliness to Solitude

I suppose that loneliness and the spiritual discipline of solitude are certainly apropos subjects for many of us on Valentine’s Day.  But that’s not really the point of this post.  Over on the Emerging Scholars Blog Michael Hickerson has written a great first post in a series on Henri Nouwen and the vital spiritual practice of solitude. … Continue reading »

A word from Lady Julian

So it is God’s will that we should hold on to gladness with all our might, for bliss lasts eternally, and pain passes and shall vanish completely.  Therefore it is not God’s will that we should be guided by feelings of pain, grieving and mourning over them, but should quickly pass beyond them and remain … Continue reading »