Date: December 13, 2022
We Belong to the Earth and Not Vice Versa
Once again, a human-made object takes a picture of the earth from near the moon. Once again, everyone who sees the picture is reminded of how rare the earth is. […]
RPLI Posts
Date: December 6, 2022
The Government as the Church Militant is ALWAYS a Terrible Idea
A Prayer by the Oklahoma Governor, 2022, speaking in front of the state Capitol, “Father, we just claim Oklahoma for you. Every square inch, we claim it for you in […]
Date: November 29, 2022
Misshapen by Deception
Deception is hardly new. The serpent lied to Eve. Cain lied to God. Laban and Jacob deceived each other so badly they had to set up a cairn as a […]
Date: November 15, 2022
Woke or Awakening?
(Note: after writing this blog, I discovered there is a substantial, serious literature from conservative voices claiming that “woke” and “awake” represent very different religious values and social mandates. It […]
Date: November 9, 2022
Three Earthquake-level Changes in Seminary Education
From 1977 to 1981, I was a seminary student. From 1993 until the present, I’ve been an educator in graduate theological seminaries. Every level of education has been changed, most […]
Date: November 1, 2022
Forty Years of Change, or Not, in Church and Culture
As I near retirement from my full-time work (January 31), I’ve been reflecting on what has changed—and not—over the 41 years of my post-seminary ministries in congregations and graduate education. […]
Date: October 25, 2022
The Brief History of Christianity’s Failure to Unify
From its earliest days, the Jesus movement, and then Christianity, were comprised of different, conflicting streams. Jesus lived and died in occupied Roman Palestine. But Jews who believed Jesus was […]
Date: October 18, 2022
Distrust Binary Thinking
One of Phillips’ alums who follows my work posted a response to one of my musings, to the effect: “Be careful about creating an either-or, two-option scenario when there are […]
Date: October 4, 2022
Old Santa-god Shows Up Again
One of my seminary pastoral care professors was Dr. Tibor Chikes. He was a Hungarian refugee who, along with his wife, survived the siege of Budapest in 1945, during which […]
Date: September 27, 2022
They’ll Know We are Christian by the Size of our Cross?
Last week my family took a two-night camping trip with one night in central Missouri and the second on the Arkansas/Missouri border. On the drive, we passed two different churches […]