Daily Theology
Systematic Theology
Downton Abbey and the Role of the Woman
Episode 4 of Downton Abbey shifted our focus rather quickly from nobility to gender. Where the previous episode saw multiple attacks on the prestige and place of nobility in English culture, such attacks were all but non-existent this time around. Instead, the wealth and nobility is temporarily stabilized, while the role of gender equality is … Continue reading
Thoughts from the Science Classroom: Faith!? What faith?!
Where is faith in the science classroom? Where is faith in the physics courses, studying the latest developments from the Large Hadron Collider; the astrophysics graduate classrooms, perusing the search for life on other planets via the Kepler Space Telescope; the chemistry undergraduate lab, investigating the strands of amino acids and proteins that comprise the very … Continue reading
Easter Sunday: The Resurrection Was Not a Victory March
A few years ago I attended a Passion Play/Musical at a megachurch where I used to live. The play ended up being a sort of Cirque-du-Soleil performance of humanity from Adam and Eve to Jesus with a glorious ending in the resurrection. When I say glorious, I mean people dancing in the streets, crowds shouting … Continue reading
The Entangled Beauty of Ecumenism
On Christmas Eve I had the privilege of attending two Christmas services: a 4pm Evangelical Presbyterian Church service focused around children and an 8pm Roman Catholic Mass. Although the differences between the two services were stark in many ways, these were mostly expected. What struck me, surprisingly, were the similarities–especially in the people attending. Besides … Continue reading
Theology: Serving the Conversation
Thirst Another morning and I wake with thirst for the goodness I do not have. I walk out to the pond and all the way God has given us such beautiful lessons. Oh Lord, I was never a quick scholar but sulked and hunched over my books past the hour and the bell; grant me, … Continue reading
Theologically considering stay-at-home fatherhood
I am a stay-at-home dad of two boys, a 19-month old and an almost 3-month old. This and this alone places me in the minority of couples with children. These days, it seems, being a stay-at-home dad is not quite as rare as in the past, but people still throw out the “daddy day care” … Continue reading
Discerning a call for another theological space?
I do not know how many times the question has come up for me over the last decade. Which question? “What do you plan to do with THAT?” The topic in question? My area of study. Often times this question is raised merely in a pragmatic sense. As a husband and father of two, people … Continue reading
The Vatican, technology, and being human
This past Tuesday, on the 60th anniversary of Pope Benedict’s ordination to the priesthood, the Vatican published a new, interactive, accessibility-oriented website called news.va…. Impressive to say the least. Note the nice twitter integration; the links to tumblr and facebook; and a video of the Holy Father using an iPad to launch the website! The … Continue reading
Of Celebrity and Sanctity
The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that the word “celebrity” has existed since the 17th century – which seems odd, considering its common and sometimes tawdry usage in the media today. The two most helpful definitions in the OED are “A person of celebrity; a celebrated person: a public character.” and “The condition of being … Continue reading
A Particular Sanctity: Thomas M. King, S.J.
Rev. Thomas M. King, S.J. died of a heart attack on June 23, 2009. Despite the fact that he had broken his hip some seven years prior and had undergone several painful surgeries over the intervening years in a never-fully successful attempt to repair the damage done that day he slipped on the ice, he had … Continue reading
