Progressive Protestant has been kind enough to transcribe a recording of a short talk Henry Nelson Wieman gave on the “god question” in 1965. Here is the transcript.
Well, well, well…
04.06.05 | Permalink | Comments Off on Well, well, well…
Christianity without God?
04.05.05 | Permalink | 5 Comments
Rick Heller recently posted the first of four responses to Bishop John Shelby Spong’s “12 Theses Of Nontheistic Christianity.” Read through them and tell me if you agree:
Someone who (dis)believes what Spong (dis)believes is no longer a Christian. As I wrote in the comments to Rick’s post, if you don’t believe that Jesus is “the Christ,” then you are not a “Christian.” Period. You can play with “Christ” up to a point, but there are only so many shade of meaning you can attach to that word and still get away with it.
Why are so many people who no longer believe what Christians believe so desperate to still call themselves a Christian? Courage, my friends, is a virtue. Play with the language however you like. But if calling Jesus things like “Christ,” “Messiah,” “Son of God,” and “Savior” doesn’t resonate for you, you are at best a heretical Christian. At least own up to that much. Grandma and your childhood Sunday School teacher may not like it, but it’s true nonetheless.
John Paul Superstar?
04.04.05 | Permalink | Comments Off on John Paul Superstar?
Dissident Catholic theologican Hans Kung on the glaring contradictions between John Paul Superstar and John Paul Authoritarian.
Evil Chutney, or On the virtues of being a shit
04.04.05 | Permalink | Comments Off on Evil Chutney, or On the virtues of being a shit
Attentive readers have no doubt noticed that a certain Evil Chutney has been posting with renewed vigor since the site relaunch. So it bears asking: Who is this Evil Chutney?
If you’ve surfed to the “About” page, you’ve read our disclaimer of responsibility for Evil Chutney’s actions, as we have tried without success to prevent him from posting to the site. If we could prevent him from posting, we most certainly would; certain of us find him quite distasteful and offensive.
Yet others of us argue that it can be, in certain instances, a good thing to be a shit. His defenders offer not a philosophical defense of his trickery as much as secretly shared smirks and muffled guffaws. Certain of us think Evil Chutney should not be encouraged in this way. Certain of us don’t understand what is so funny.
Until such time as Evil Chutney can be successfully prevent from posting, please make do as best you can.
Let them have feeding tubes
03.30.05 | Permalink | Comments Off on Let them have feeding tubes
You’ve no doubt heard that Vatican’s strike team of private doctors gave the Pope a feeding tube today. The Vatican has yet to announce plans to provide feeding tubes to millions of starving people in the Third World, even though it would prolong their survival of terminal poverty.
UPDATE: Now they’re reporting complications from not having cleaned out his kitty litter. (3/31)
Baby, you didn’t now me when
03.30.05 | Permalink | Comments Off on Baby, you didn’t now me when
It’s feeling like it’s time to revisit that staple of the first day of church camp: my spiritual journey. But this time from a new perspective: when and where and how I have “experienced the divine.” For now, I’m sticking to my childhood and teenage years. I hope later to get to later years.
I grew up evangelical and so, yes, I prayed the sinner’s prayer. (In my case, on my mother’s cutting board—on my own initiative, I had come into her room so she could help me do it—at the ripe age of eight). Looking back at my motivation then, it was more of a commitment to being a “good boy” and aligning myself to my community’s deepest held values than a lifetime commitment to evangelical Christianity. Because, really, what sin could an eight-year-old have committed and need forgiveness for?
After the Oil Bust my family slid into a more charismatic mode, with some occasional forays into fundamentalism. I still remember my parents walking down the hall of our home speaking in tongues. I too received the “gift” of tongues, for the first time at the age of ten at a children’s revival led by “Gospel Bill.” But for us, speaking in tongues was a mostly private thing best done in your “prayer closet,” or with a small group of others who did the same. Again, it was more about aligning myself to my community (and winning the approval of Gospel Bill, who was something of a celebrity in our circles).
With the onset of adolescence came the first pangs of sin consciousness. Before that I knew I was sinful but only because I had been told so. Now came a deep awareness of my own capacity for evil that went beyond fighting with my little brother or not taking out the trash. Usually it involved that stereotypical sin of adolescent boys, lust, otherwise known as healthy sexual desire. Click to continue reading “Baby, you didn’t now me when”
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