My church’s Pub Theology crew wanted to discuss the doctrine of Revelation. As is my custom, I created a worksheet to help start our conversation: Working Definition: Revelation unveils the Unknown. What is it: An experience, an event, an inspiration that moves one beyond the vision of the ordinary. Transcendent Transformative What is it not: RevelationContinue reading “charlottesville and revelation”
Category Archives: Beliefs
theology, the future, and pop culture
The abstract for my paper, “The Eschatological Lens of Saga,” has been accepted at the Mid-Atlantic Pop and American Culture Conference in November. I’ve been so excited for it that I even started to re-read one of my sources for the paper, Jürgen Moltmann’s Theology of Hope. One quote struck me tonight, it reads, “TheologicalContinue reading “theology, the future, and pop culture”
overthinking my iraqi kurdistan delegation in hopes for transformation
Intrinsic to fundraising is how one sells it. This certainly was true when I told others about my upcoming delegation to Kurdistan with Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and Christian Peacemaker Teams. Either people have never heard of Kurdistan or understand it as being an ally for the US. I usually had to explain how Kurdistan isContinue reading “overthinking my iraqi kurdistan delegation in hopes for transformation”
salvation: theology and theopoetry
Someone gave me some insight once in how to read theology: theologians only answer the questions asked. Augustine answered certain questions that we’re not asking today. The same is true for Death of God theologians and many contemporary theologians do not incorporate #BlackLivesMatter or push against transphobia in their theologies. So why do we holdContinue reading “salvation: theology and theopoetry”
the baptism of jesus and a tree tornado: a sermon
Mark 1:4-11 (NRSV) John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed withContinue reading “the baptism of jesus and a tree tornado: a sermon”
theologically imagining via comic books
Typically comic books and theology sound odd together in conversation. They represent two separate camps; one’s stationed beyond the trees in the land of pop-culture and superheroes. While the other is found amongst the cloud-covered mountains. And never the twain shall meet. This summer I sunk my teeth deep into the comic book cosmos. And afterContinue reading “theologically imagining via comic books”
the people’s climate march and hermeneutics
I’ll admit it: I’m a hermeneutics fanatic. Whenever I enter a bookstore, I head straight for the literary criticism section. There is something enthralling thumbing through Roland Barthes’ Mythologies, Edward Said’s postcolonial criticism of Jane Eyre‘s madwoman in the attic, and the overweight, almost 3,000 page, Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. I am fascinatedContinue reading “the people’s climate march and hermeneutics”
the necessity of inclusive religious language and new metaphors
Seminaries, unless on the conservative end of the theological spectrum, require students to use gender neutral language concerning God in papers and sermons. Although, not having a pronoun for God makes for extremely awkward sentences in English. For example, “God in God’s self,” or “For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only begottenContinue reading “the necessity of inclusive religious language and new metaphors”
hoping against hope: god, weak-bodies, and Pentecost
“Hoping against hope … [Abraham] did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.” (Romans 4:18a, 19 NRSV) Few body theologians consider Paul’s contribution to a theology of theContinue reading “hoping against hope: god, weak-bodies, and Pentecost”
god’s not (not) dead
American Christians are flocking to the movie theaters to watch the latest in Christian pop culture. This year, three overtly Christian films flashed across our movie screens: Son of God, God is not dead, and the upcoming film Heaven is for real. They exhaust contemporary American Christian metanarratives, i.e. penal substitution, God is our friend, the desireContinue reading “god’s not (not) dead”
black flag theology 