This week I’m making my way through Flannery O’Connor’s book of short stories Everything That Rises Must Converge.  (The book’s title comes from the first story that appears in this series of O’Connor’s stories.) Three stories in, I’m struck by a common crescendo that describes O’Connor’s stories: her characters seem in some ways hopelessly and…

April Fool’s Day seems a fitting day to review what happened last week, when, within just two days of announcing its decision to hire gays in recognized same-sex marriages, World Vision reversed its decision. An official statement from World Vision president Richard Stearns communicated “heartbreak”— “over the pain and confusion we have caused many of…

IRN USA Radio’s program “Chuck Morse Speaks” invited me back on Wednesday morning for a conversation with co-producer of the show Andre Traversa.This time the subject was my book. You can tune in to that one-hour discussion here. (Note: the conversation really doesn’t start until 6 minutes into the recording due to technical difficulties.) Talk…

Last week I got the news that I had been rejected: I had poured my all into one and only one application to a top-tier doctoral program only to learn that I hadn’t made the cut. Worse yet was the explanation that there was nothing I could have done to make my application any stronger,…

If you’re just tuning in here at this intersection between life and God, I’m glad you’ve come. And I hope you’ll come back. You may not know that my newly released book Grace Sticks is now available at a 40% discount on my publisher’s website (www.wipfandstock.com) as part of a limited time offer. For only $11…

The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is in Baltimore this year: at this time last year I was courting publishers for Grace Sticks; this time I’ll be working on a publicity plan for the book. In the meantime, here is a short interview with yours truly that publicist Caitlin Mackenzie (Wipf and Stock) helped put…

Starting today and continuing every Tuesday and Thursday through Advent, we’ll move through a series of photo meditations on “holy space.” Our guide is photographer and travel writer Katie Archibald-Woodward and her inspirational “visual words.” If you’re a restless soul looking for more meaning, more truth and/or more life, we hope you’ll join us on…

It used to be that church buildings were holy spaces. Sometimes they still are. But for many of us restless souls looking for more direction, truth and life, this question of what constitutes “holy space” transcends traditional religious symbols. What makes a space “holy” or “set apart”? Does “holiness” have something to do with the…

This is one of those rare moments when I’m flooding the blogosphere with two posts in one day and hoping you’ll forgive me….because yesterday publicist Caitlin McKenzie of Cascade—a shout-out to Caitlin, editor Rodney Clapp, and the wonderful people of Wipf & Stock—radioed in (kidding) with the news that Grace Sticks (Cascade) is actually up…

That pretty much says it all. Thanks to the deft and efficient contributions of my editor Rodney Clapp and the hard-working souls of Wipf & Stock, Grace Sticks:The Bumper Sticker Gospel for Restless Souls (Cascade), with a foreword by Michael Frost, will be available for purchase in just a short while now! Which thankfully makes Christmas…

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