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Classroom Christianity: How theology is flourishing in China
China's leaders still speak implicitly against religions with strong foreign ties. Meanwhile, Christian theology thrives in China.
An unquenchable trust
The below train of thought was prompted by reflection on my grandmother’s death and the opportunity I had to officiate her funeral. She was quite certain about what awaited her on the other side.
I, on the other hand, am deeply agnostic about what happens to us when we die.
That's R.E.M. in the corner, sort of
My first year in college, I had a friend who was going through a bit of a Goth stage. He dressed in all black and spent a lot of his time with his guitar, playing really intense (and often really good) original music.
For his birthday, another friend of ours shot a goofy video (on VHS, I think!) about him. She asked me to appear as his bizarro-world self, so I dressed in all white (can't believe I found white pants somewhere on my dorm floor!) and showed up with my guitar. Then I improvised a major-key adaptation of "The Sound of Silence": "Hello lightness my new friend..."
Uneasy in Cairo: Egypt’s new constitution
Some insist that the Christian-Muslim alliance evident during the overthrow of Mubarak remains strong. Yet Egypt is divided in many ways.
Responding to Rush
Rush Limbaugh:
If a lot of African-Americans back in the '60s had guns and the legal right to use them for self-defense, you think they would have needed Selma? . . . If John Lewis had had a gun, would he have been beat upside the head on the bridge?
Rep. John Lewis:
African Americans in the 60s could have chosen to arm themselves, but we made a conscious decision not to.
When patriarchy trumps theology
If life is the most important thing in a political and theological belief system, then why would a person support the death penalty, back wars and oppose gun violence prevention?
Unfolding the map
Robert Wilken's historical survey of Christianity is impressive, accessible and lively. It also leaves out a lot.
Of guns and neighbors
In the Bible, social issues are always framed primarily as questions of obligation, not individual rights.