As you can read in the About me section, I am a philosophical thinker at heart, so this section is for posts which wander about in the big ideas and issues of life, God, the universe, and other related subjects.
Well, as some of you might realize, I have not been posting as regularly to the blog part of this website as I once was. I’ve been working on several writing projects, large and small, and I wanted to post a little foretaste of my favorite one. Have you ever heard of process theology? If not, Read More …
So often, we want to escape suffering – to escape our pain. On the path to wisdom in our lives, there is no path “up” that doesn’t first lead us “through.” I really hate that. There is a part of me that always feels “If I were smart enough…” or “If I were spiritual enough…”, Read More …
What do you do when the game is unfair? What do you do when life is unfair? There comes a time in every person’s life when he or she discovers that just because you are trying to be fair – to be good, to do what’s right, to do what’s expected of you – there Read More …
What do you do when something hits you out of left field? What do you do in the times that something happens that seems to turn the way you think upside down? The Sayings of the Desert Fathers are terrific for examples of these times. Take this story, for instance: “Some brothers came to Antony Read More …
Most of the time, I try to contain my posts to my specific thoughts on a topic, book, or experience. However, today, I’d like to write about something noted elsewhere: Muslim refugees in Europe becoming Christian. Please read the article first. Okay, what did you think? (Please leave comments) How cultural is religion? While it is Read More …
Let me start off by saying, “I love religion.” I love to think about religion, talk about it, study it, and write about it. Also, I think the variety of religion in the world is beautiful and wonderful. Such diversity and wonder… I could sit and talk for hours (and I have) with individual persons Read More …
Now, I’m not talking about Batman, so I’ll give you a second to get over your disappointment… Okay, I want to write a bit today about the dark night of the soul. If you want the whole story, then check out The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross (or Juan Read More …
While most of my “meandering” tends toward the philosophical and theological, I’m in a more sociological place today (my sub-discipline is sociology of religion after all). If you haven’t heard it already, we’re in an election year in the good, old US of A, and that situation invariably leads to talk about demographics, age groups, Read More …
Spiritual borrowing is the process of transplanting spiritual and religious practices from one religion to another…and it can be a tricky business. Why? Well, whether implicitly or explicitly, you have to answer the question “Just how much of the original theology/philosophy that shaped the practice gets transferred with it?” The answer to that question depends Read More …
Today is Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent. Lent is a traditional season on the Christian calendar which focuses on confession, fasting, and repentance for forty days leading up to Easter, the celebration of Christ’s resurrection over death. In most Christian churches, today the priest will make a cross of ashes on the Read More …
