God in Pain: Inversions of Apocalypse released last year and was co-written by Slavoj Zizek and Boris Gunjevic. Re-reading it again for a third time, I am enjoying the chapters written by Gunjevic even more. Gunjevic uses St. Augustine’s City of God as an ethical playbook to destroy capitalism. In the quote below, Gunjevic writes that to subvertContinue reading “desert ascetics in the land of plenty”
Tag Archives: religion
the messiah came; we were just too busy looking at our cell phones
Jesus’ second coming filled my thoughts as a young child. In my apocalyptic vision, Jesus descended from heaven, trumpets sounded, and saved persons were raptured into heaven. On Earth there would be years of torment for those who weren’t Christians, and after seven years, Jesus would come back again (third coming?) to see if anyone would believeContinue reading “the messiah came; we were just too busy looking at our cell phones”
subverting the norm II!
This coming weekend I am presenting my paper “Approaching Youth Ministry through a Post-Structural Lens” at Subverting the Norm II in Springfield, MO. Here is my abstract: A postmodern mood fills the halls of youth ministries everywhere. We re-work tradition with liturgies, candles, and video clips. Youth play games one moment and the next learn theContinue reading “subverting the norm II!”
theologically imagining a new atonement theory
Easter arrives in a few weeks. The Church will celebrate the crucifixion, death, burial and eventual rising of Jesus the Christ. So much meaning is packed into one weekend. Altars are torn down, darkness floods the tenebrae service, and on Easter Sunday some church members have the opportunity to wake as the sun rises to worship the God ofContinue reading “theologically imagining a new atonement theory”
justice conference
This video highlights my view of justice, postmodern, of course. We must always fight for a better world, yet understanding there is always so much more that must be done. If we are going to fight for the oppressed and are not in communion with them, our fight is shallow.
hunger, lent, and stewardship
On Sunday morning at church, the layspeaker opened the service saying that everything is relative. We may think that it is cold outside, but those living in Minnesota have it worse with temperatures in the negative Fahrenheit. Then on a side note hunger also was relative. This was a strange way to talk about relativism,Continue reading “hunger, lent, and stewardship”
god as stranger/kin
During my teen years, it was drilled into me that we need to believe that Jesus is both Lord and Savior. One is not a true believer if they only accept Jesus as one of those titles. I later found out that my pastor learned this doctrinal idea from the popular Reformed fundamentalist pastor JohnContinue reading “god as stranger/kin”
the good news of post-structuralism
On my good days I have some certainty to what good news looks like. Today is not one of those days, so I am depending on the prophetic tradition to aid me. According to Second Isaiah (61), good news is for the marginalized, those who have no luck, or certainty for tomorrow. The good newsContinue reading “the good news of post-structuralism”
unexiled and the us
The Prophet Jeremiah preached before and during the Exile. During this time of turmoil, Jeremiah cast down the hierarchies in Judah, decrying them to allow Babylon to take over. In spite of Jeremiah, King Zedekiah had other plans and started to build up the army to ward off the Babylonians. Yet, an unexpected problem occurred:Continue reading “unexiled and the us”
dead metaphors make strong idols: re-gendering the divine
Elizabeth Johnson CSJ, a feminist theologian, wrote “As a remedy some scholars and liturgist today take the option of always addressing God as simply “God.” This has the positive result of relieving the hard androcentrism of ruling male images and pronouns for the divine. Nevertheless, this practice, if it is the only corrective engaged in, is not ultimately satisfactory…ItContinue reading “dead metaphors make strong idols: re-gendering the divine”
black flag theology 