What’s your starting point?

Much mainline Christian theology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been a response to the problem of evil. For liberal Christian theologians of the mid-twentieth century, two world wars and the Holocaust made any strong notion of divine action unbelievable. Unlike evangelical cessationists, who believe that miracles ceased after the biblical period, liberal theologians,…

I know what you don’t believe about the #Bible…. What DO you believe?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from working with mainline Protestants over the years, it’s that we’re really good at identifying what we don’t believe about scripture. Basically, the claim I have heard over and over again is that we don’t read it the way “fundamentalists” read it. Okay…. Fair enough. That, however, is a very uninteresting statement.…

“I don’t think any parent wants a son with a disability,” and other ridiculous things people say.

As we learn more details regarding the Australian parents who left a twin with Down syndrome with a surrogate mother in Thailand, the story goes from bad to worse. Here’s an excerpt from an article in the Washington Post:  David Farnell, who has three children from a previous relationship, said the problems began when they found out before…

Anti-Semitism is on the rise.

From the New York Times: To many of the more than 100,000 Jews in Germany, the outburst of anti-Semitism since the conflict flared in Gaza has a troubling undertone and has stirred especially painful memories. The Central Council of Jews in Germany has received hundreds of calls from members asking whether they should pack their suitcases…

This may be the coolest restaurant on earth.

This morning I had green pepper cheese grits with eggs over easy and fried potatoes. It wasn’t the healthiest meal I’ve ever eaten, but it was worth it—pure culinary heaven. My two sons, Luke and Sean, and my wife, Harriet, had “Tim’s Favorite,” pancakes with blueberries and bananas. They loved it. “Tim’s Favorite” is named…