June 9 commemorates Columba, the Abbot of Iona (d. 597), who has become a rather unlikely saint-hero to contemporary emergence, liberal, and progressive Christians–as well as postmodern folks who might identify themselves as spiritual but not particularly religious. Born in Donegal, Ireland in 521 with the given name, “Colum,” meaning “dove,” Columba devoted his life…

June 5 is World Environment Day.  Similar to Earth Day, WED celebrates the global movement for environmental activism by commemorating the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, the first such international conference.  June 5 also marks the Feast Day of St. Boniface (672-754).  St. Boniface is remembered as the Apostle of the Germans…

Like most Christians, I don’t pay attention to missives from church leaders.  This week, however, dueling pastoral letters issued for Pentecost from Rowan Williams, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, and Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, caught my attention–because one so rarely witnesses a first-class theological smack down between tea-drinking Anglican…

June 1 celebrates Justin Martyr (d. 165), a Christian philosopher who integrated faith and philosophy–appreciating ancient wisdom and argued that “Socrates was a Christian before Christ.” Before embracing Christianity, Justin mastered many ancient philosophies (he studied at the best schools of antiquity) including Stoicism and Platonism.  While walking on a beach in Ephesus, an elderly…

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