Chaplainmike

Mercy not Sacrifice (2): How do we view the “unclean”?

We are thinking through Richard Beck’s illuminating book, Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality. In our first post, we introduced his suggestion that disgust psychology can help explain the ways we view and treat other people. Beck’s focus in this study will be on the church, and answers to questions like: Why do churches,Continue reading “Mercy not Sacrifice (2): How do we view the “unclean”?”

Using God for Political Purposes

I am in the process of writing a post entitled “Five Six Seven Views Of God and the Corona Virus”. The Post keeps changing the more I read and think about it. In considering all the different ways that I have heard people express their view of God and the Corona Virus, there was oneContinue reading “Using God for Political Purposes”

Mercy not Sacrifice (part 1)

One of the most important and influential books I have read in the last decade is Richard Beck’s Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality. Along with Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, Beck’s book pulls back the curtain on some fundamental reasons why we think andContinue reading “Mercy not Sacrifice (part 1)”

The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: June 27, 2018

• • • The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: June 27, 2018 Welcome to Brunch. Each week just seems to get crazier and scarier. I’m running out of things to say and feeling the futility of the words I do find. Colt Clark and his Quarantine Kids put their finger on the source of my weariness,Continue reading “The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: June 27, 2018”

“I just wanted to add a measure of grace to the world.”

In the play The Man of La Mancha Don Quixote said on his deathbed, “I just wanted to add a measure of grace to the world.” I can’t think of a better goal in life — or a better goal for today. Just to add a bit more grace to the world. We add graceContinue reading ““I just wanted to add a measure of grace to the world.””

Yes, Free Will Exists

Yes, Free Will Exists Here is an interesting contribution to the ongoing debate of whether free will exists or not from Scientific American. The article notes that debate began in earnest during the Enlightenment, but was seemingly settled by 20th century neuroscience headlined by the famous Libet Experiment: Libet found that the unconscious brain activityContinue reading “Yes, Free Will Exists”

“Your relationship with God grows uniquely in the soil that is your journey through life”

My friend Dory recently wrote: This year has been transitional for me, and I hope I’m not nearly done yet. I have deliberately stepped back from everything I thought I knew about traditional Christianity, racial divide, politics, racial bias, the meaning of freedom, and the response of the church to government oppression. I have askedContinue reading ““Your relationship with God grows uniquely in the soil that is your journey through life””

JMJ: The South Shall (not) Rise Again!

Ramblings: The South Shall (not) Rise Again! By J. Michael Jones Mike writes at his blog J. Michael Jones • I am a product of the south. There are many things that a true southerner should be proud about…our Confederate history, not one of them. The code name that we southerner’s like to use forContinue reading “JMJ: The South Shall (not) Rise Again!”

Musick for the King – An Internet Monk Review

Few pieces of music can touch the soul like Handel’s Messiah. Making this composition into the centerpiece of a historical of historical novel is a task that only a masterful hand dare try. Barrie Doyle delivers a masterpiece of his own in “Musick for the King – A Historical Novel“. In it, we are transportedContinue reading “Musick for the King – An Internet Monk Review”

Racism: One Tragic Outcome of Misunderstanding Grace

• Traditional Western Christian theology has not always served us or our world well. As a particular example of this, I would refer to our accepted understandings of “grace” and its implications. The debates between medieval Roman Catholics and the Protestant reformers focused on the nature of grace as it applied to individuals and theirContinue reading “Racism: One Tragic Outcome of Misunderstanding Grace”