Theological troublemaker. Orthodox Christian.
Over the next several days, I will be posting reactions to the papers I heard at the annual conference of the Sophia Institute, but in order for that to make sense, I thought it best to briefly introduce what I understand the organization to be about.
Happy Santa Claus Day! We Americans derive our Santa Claus from immigrants’ celebrations of St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 6). (I have heard that we call him Santa Claus because we misheard how Italians pronounced “Santo Nicholas;” I don’t know if that is true, but it’s as good a story as any.) St. Nicholas was a fourth century bishop in Turkey. A couple of legends make him the patron saint of children and sailors, but in our house he is the patron saint of gift giving.
Jesus said that we should give so that our left hand does not know what our right hand is doing,
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly (Matthew 6:4).
St. Nicholas exemplified this kind of giving. Continue reading “The Real Santa: Three Ways We Teach our Kids that Christmas is about Giving, not Getting”
Let’s get this straight: If you insist on wishing a Jew, Muslim, or atheist a merry birth of a Savior they do not believe in, that does not make you a good Christian. It makes you a condescending jerk. I know that some people think saying “Happy Holidays” is tantamount to kicking over a plastic baby Jesus in the front lawn of your local Catholic Church, but the so called “war on Christmas” has a lot more to do with what comes out of our wallets than our mouths.
I wrote a recent piece in the Huffington Post that pointed out the irony of the Black Friday ritual. To celebrate the incomprehensible mystery of the birth of the infant God, we rush to fill our homes with new assortments of plastic crap. Continue reading ““Happy Holidays” and the Real Assault on Baby Jesus”
Last month, J. Aaron Simmons invited me to sit on a panel for the SECSOR conference in March. I am honored. Aaron asked me to speak somewhat informally about my experiences doing “public theology,” (which is good, because I do not have time to commit to another research paper).
Which brings me to some of the points I will likely raise in a few months (and mentioned in an earlier post).
Some challenges of doing public theology include: Continue reading “Five Challenges and Benefits of Theology for the Public Square”
Typically I blog about theology, culture, politics, and sometimes teaching. Forgive me for sharing a parenting issue, but I need some catharsis.
Two of my three kids are academically “gifted,” but I almost never say that. Parents like me learn to be careful where they use the g-word. Kyla reads at an eleventh grade level. She participates in a program called SAVY, which offers accelerated curriculum to kids like her. When George was old enough to participate in the program, he took an I.Q. test to see if he qualified (which he did). The person who administered the test also interacted with Connor a bit and said, “I expect we’ll be seeing him in a few years.” So, chances are, we will be 3-for-3…whatever that means. Continue reading “The Word I Almost Never Call my Kids”
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) society meeting has been going on last weekend. Most things wrap up sometime today. I was really hoping I could make it this year. It was in Chicago. I have a friend I could stay with, but our finances are pretty tight. I was trying to find a way to make it work right up until last Friday, but I just could not swing it.
I am a bit starved for intense theological dialogue. I learn best when I surround myself with people who are smarter than me. I have not been able to attend the past several AAR meetings, partly because of expense, and partly because I was trying to focus on my dissertation. Cost has kept me off the conference circuit for too long.
Continue reading “A Lesson in Gratitude”
