David J Dunn

Lying in the Name of Jesus

The other day I received a pingback to a blog that mentioned me as one of a handful of dangerous Orthodox Christians. I don’t want to mention the blog. I have no problem criticizing intellectual arguments people make, but I try to avoid personal squabbles. That said, the writer quoted me in a way that made me wonder why some feel it is necessary to lie to protect the faith.

In this particular instance, the writer quoted my words but omitted the context that gave them meaning. The result was a caricature of my position. This sort of thing happens all the time, to all sorts of people, along the entire the political spectrum. But I find it particularly disturbing when misrepresentations come from self-proclaimed Christians. It is a bad witness.

Continue reading “Lying in the Name of Jesus”

Back to the Book!

During my day job, I help run a program that brings academically talented students to Vanderbilt to take intense courses with university scholars (professors and PhD students), and summer is our busiest time of year. But I did manage to finish the first draft of my book proposal on June 1. I spent much of August and September working on an essay I agreed to write on Sergei Bulgakov and John Milbank. Having sent in the final edits last week, I was able to sit down with my proposal once again.

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My Childhood Experience of Poverty

73919_4377896606106_1957152373_n — An old photo of me at a disappointing Christmas (courtesy of Linda Dunn)

When you are a child, there is a lot you do not understand about money. You notice that your mom scolds a bit louder and cries more often. Sometimes you pour water on your cereal instead of milk, you eat lots of things from cans, and you get a smaller, dingier room in a new neighborhood. You understand that your mom needs money. So you color her something resembling a green rectangle, and you watch a sad smile spread across her face as she thanks you, then tries to explain why you don’t need to color green rectangles anymore. Continue reading “My Childhood Experience of Poverty”

My Appearance on Huffington Post Live

Late Sunday evening I received an e-mail asking me to appear on Huffington Post Live, which is the video arm of the Huffington Post. Several other guests and I discussed the role clergy should play in the voting decisions of their congregants. Continue reading “My Appearance on Huffington Post Live”

Children’s Church and Christian Narcissism

Shortly before I was to appear on Ancient Faith Today with Fr. John Whiteford, I accepted his invitation to have a brief phone conversation. Telling me about his background, he made an offhanded remark that some decades ago kids began going to “Children’s Church,” and they never left. The more I think about that remark, the more disturbed I become (and not just because I actually agree with Fr. John about something). I think the well-intentioned efforts to meet the worship needs of children has contributed to an increasing trend toward a narcissistic faith. Continue reading “Children’s Church and Christian Narcissism”

Ancient Faith Continued: Elastic Tradition

I was in the library last month, looking for something from Fr. Dumitru Staniloae when I came across a book by David N. Bell. It’s title immediately caught my attention: Orthodoxy: Evolving Tradition. I had been thinking about what it means to be a modern member of the so-called “Ancient Faith” (read more here), so I picked it up. It reads a lot like an introduction to Orthodoxy, except that it is more frank about our warts than some other primers.

One of the things I loved about Bell’s book was that he constantly stresses the internal diversity within Orthodoxy. The church is not monolithic either in terms of belief or practice. This gets personal for me in the last chapter of his book. Continue reading “Ancient Faith Continued: Elastic Tradition”