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The Christmas season is all but past and we’re coming now to the Feast of Epiphany, which celebrates the revelation of God in human form as Jesus. Often (depending on which tradition one is in), Epiphany involves the remembrance of John’s baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, where a dove alighted on Christ and…

Out of nowhere from the back seat of the car… “I bet after God made all the people for the first time, they looked around and were like, ‘Okay, this is great, but what are we supposed to do now?” 

A strangely inspiring quote from Eugene Peterson to begin the new year:  From The Jesus Way, in a chapter where Peterson notes Christians’ odd tendency to idolize David–he of 8 wives and a harem of concubines, he who killed thousands (including a rival lover), he who was indifferent to his own progeny. To name but…

Dave Banack is Beliefnet’s new Mormon blogger, and this week he’s launched a discussion series for a book titled How Wide the Divide: An Evangelical and a Mormon in Conversation. The book is 10 years old, but the subjects in it are perennial for those interested in sorting through the differences between the two traditions…

We’ve just published an essay written by the priest at the Anglican church I attend, Holy Trinity Anglican. It’s an Anglican Mission in the Americas church, which is part of the African-American conservative Anglican movement that is splitting from the Episcopal Church with increasing formality.  My wife and I chose this church for reasons that…

Surprise–it’s that we won’t keep them. Past performance suggests that at best, we’ll maintain our resolve for a little while at best, and call it success. I failed mine last year–I can’t even find the list I know I posted to my closet door. I remember that it included taking my wife to Italy (check),…

A month or so ago I announced that I was looking for movies with Christian killers, and many of you helped out with titles that hadn’t occurred to me. I’ve since seen more religiously motivated violence on screen than I care to recount, and I have a long way to go, but I’m enjoying this…

Last Tuesday, I wrote that Haggard post, did some holiday volunteering, went home to wrap some presents, and somehow managed to stay offline for most of the next 5 days.  Which is to say: Christmas was splendid. Truly peaceful. I finally got around to reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy (holy crap, what a novel),…

Like Tony, I’d rather see the Ted Haggard story go away entirely. But it won’t, at least not yet, because Haggard feels he has more story to tell.  As Haggard’s former writer, I was called upon to comment or write in the days, weeks, and months after he was exposed. I ignored most of those…

A personal post for a personal time of year:  Christmas memories hold for me–as I imagine they do for a host of others–a mixture of pleasure and pain.  Some of my sharpest Christmas memories are from the mid-1990s, when I was in college. I had become a Christian in my freshman year, then lost faith…

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