I've quipped that everyone is a Biblical literalist until it comes to Jesus' words on nonviolence. Then every nuance and caveat is mined to make sure we are assured Jesus doesn't actually mean what he said. So when it comes to traditional ideas of sexuality or hell, or much else, we're told the Bible just…
Continue reading ➞ Why We Resist Nonviolence (Crucifixion of the Warrior God, ch. 6)
I love history. I've always enjoyed learning history. One truth of history, something you'd learn in any introduction to religion class, can be boiled down as follows: *Jesus of Nazareth died a violent death on the cross at the hands of his enemies and never led armies into battle. *Muhammad of Mecca led armies into…
I haven't written about this book since December 1! When I went back to see what I had written, I was struck by how so many of the same things are on my mind. Who is God? What is God like? Is God like Jesus? If we believe Jesus is the second person of the…
Most of us spend time with people who think like we do and we read or watch news that affirms our understanding of things. This is called living in an echo chamber. It gets to the point that we feel unable to relate to the other side, because the other side is a mystery. After…
Continue reading ➞ Seeing the Propaganda and Breaking Out of the Echo Chamber
Honestly, I did not expect much from The Grand Paradox by Ken Wytsma. I had never heard of the author but I picked it up when I saw a few people recommend it on Twitter...and it was free for a few days. After reading some challenging books this summer, from philosophers who hurt my brain…
Reading a David Bentley Hart book is to pull your chair up to the grown-up table and feast on tasty delicacies you had previously not realized existed. This is especially true of his latest book in which he argues both atheists and many Christians do not speak about God in the right way. God, argues Hart,…
Continue reading ➞ The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss by David Bentley Hart (Review)
In Peter Kazmaier's fast-paced Halcyon Dislocation we read the story of an island university that disappeared from our world and appeared in a new, mysterious place. Much of the story introduced us to this new world as university students along with naval officers stationed on the island explored the new world. We learned that an…
Continue reading ➞ The Battle for Halcyon by Peter Kazmaier (Review)
You may have heard that there is a conflict between science and religion. Promoting such a war has enabled many on both sides, fundamentalist creationists and fundamentalist atheists, to sell a lot of books. Even for those not on the extreme, there is a feeling and a fear that somehow faith in God is at…
Continue reading ➞ Where the Conflict Really Lies – Alvin Plantinga (Review)
Do you have a fixed or a growth mindset? Carol Dweck's book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success seeks to teach you what the mindsets are and why having a growth one is vital for a good life. My wife recommended this book to me and I found the ideas within it very helpful. To…
Continue reading ➞ Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Review)
The stories of the Revolutionary War and that of the Civil War are both fascinating to any fan of history. Last year I enjoyed reading the entries from the Oxford History of the United States on each of those two time periods. I figured it was about time to read about what happened in the…
Continue reading ➞ Empire of Liberty – USA from 1789-1815 (Review)
David Hershey 