So, the semester has started and I taught my first class yesterday:  Soteriology [the doctrine of salvation].  This is one of my very favorite classes to teach, because I think the gospel message really can be boiled down to two words:  “Jesus saves”–but the problem is that the church hasn’t done a very good job…… Continue reading Thinking about Salvation

Accountability has been in the news this past week, as both President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry have impressed upon the world the need for Syria to be held accountable for their use of chemical weapons. I think they’re right–but that’s neither here nor there; I have been thinking about accountability on a much…… Continue reading Accountability, Poetry, and the Power of Words

I just finished The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce, and I just had to share some thoughts about it.  It is a very sweet, unassuming story that really sneaks up on you with its tenderness and depth.  Harold and Maureen are an unhappy couple, married for decades, when Harold receives a letter from…… Continue reading The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The ELCA has a new presiding bishop–a woman; and while I think Mark Hanson did a great job as bishop, I’m so pleased at this milestone:  it’s good for the church, and good for the world–and here’s why.This past week I read two different stories about girls/women in leadership roles, one talking about why more…… Continue reading Sometimes the best man for the job is a woman

If you follow my blog, you know that I love, love, love Andrew Solomon’s book, “Far From the Tree.”  If you haven’t found the time to read it yet (it’s quite thick!), listen to his TED talk instead:http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_solomon_love_no_matter_what.html?v2=0It's about 20 minutes long, and he’s not a bells and whistles speaker, but what he has to…… Continue reading Love, no matter what

I was just in New York City the past few days visiting a friend–and, in case you haven’t been watching the news, it has been HOT here on the East Coast!  NYC was even worse than Gettysburg, of course, because of the concrete:  you could hardly ever catch a breeze.  My friend Whitney and I…… Continue reading The Witness of Ramadan

I have been working on a presentation I hope to give this fall in Istanbul, at a conference on the work of Turkish Muslim theologian Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, whom I have really enjoyed reading.  His major work is the Risale-i Nur, a commentary on the Qur’an, and in it he seeks to demonstrate how the…… Continue reading "Like a Much-loved Child at Home"

I am leaving on vacation today, but I wanted to share a quick post before I go, on this article in The New York Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/science/goal-of-broader-protection-for-chimpanzees-emerges-from-changing-perspectives.html?pagewanted=allIt describes the proposal by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to add chimpanzees in captivity to the endangered species list.  What this would do is block most experimentation on…… Continue reading Protecting Chimpanzees and the Imago Dei