Someone I greatly respect recently posted the following on Facebook. It’s a short word about lament. I’ve been saying we live in circumstances appropriate for the practice of lament prayer, so I was glad someone is writing about it. However, when I read this friend’s word, I had mixed feelings. I agreed with his mainContinue reading “Don’t rush through where Christians fear to tread”
Category Archives: Christian Humanism
Another Look: If you are not afraid…
Note from CM: I wrote this post in 2013. I don’t recall off the top of my head what prompted it, but I do know why it speaks to me today. As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, indeed as it continues to surge here in the U.S. without any signs of abating, I have never feltContinue reading “Another Look: If you are not afraid…”
Bonhoeffer on “Thy Kingdom Come”
Bonhoeffer on “Thy Kingdom Come” The following is from a 1932 retreat lecture given by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In it, he critiques two inadequate and harmful understandings of God’s kingdom that believers hold. First, he rejects the other-worldly, pietistic view of those who long for a kingdom in another realm beyond this one. This is escapistContinue reading “Bonhoeffer on “Thy Kingdom Come””
iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (3)
Is there mental illness in the Bible? This question seeks to move us toward the question of mental illness and the Gospel. Throughout the Bible- Job’s speeches, Jonah’s self pity, the depression of the Psalmist, the cynical death wish of Kohelleth- we see the kinds of emotions that make up much of common mental illnesses.Continue reading “iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (3)”
iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (2)
iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (2) The following is excerpted from part 2 of Michael’s original series. Because the Bible is authoritative in Christianity, it is often difficult to come to terms with forms of knowledge that ignore the Bible, and especially difficult to deal with systems of knowledge that threaten to transcendContinue reading “iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (2)”
iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (1)
Note from CM: Ten years ago, Michael re-ran a series about Christians and mental illness that he originally wrote in 2005. For the next few days this week, I will re-post edited versions of those pieces. Today, we read Michael’s introduction and some of the questions he will raise. • • • Several times aContinue reading “iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (1)”
Another Look: This is about the second turning
Hi, my name is Mike, and I am a recovering separatist. [Hi, Mike!] It all started when I trusted Christ at the end of my senior year in high school. Conversion (which I now more thoughtfully consider a “spiritual re-awakening”) to me was like rounding a bend in the highway and driving straight into aContinue reading “Another Look: This is about the second turning”
Another Look: Drawn to the Religionless
Another Look: Drawn to the Religionless I often ask myself why a “Christian instinct” often draws me more to the religionless people than to the religious, by which I don’t in the least mean with any evangelizing intention, but, I might almost say, “in brotherhood.” While I’m often reluctant to mention God by name toContinue reading “Another Look: Drawn to the Religionless”
When the child falls in the well… — On being too biblical
I love the Bible. I have come to have little patience with biblicism. The most “biblical” Jews in Jesus’ day were the Pharisees. We commonly criticize them for their hypocrisy, for exalting human traditions over God’s Word, or for adding a multitude of rules in their attempt to interpret scripture for religious practice. I thinkContinue reading “When the child falls in the well… — On being too biblical”
Pete Enns: Christmas in “Christian America” and the Old Testament
Note from CM: Now here is an eye-opening post. I guarantee you that the thoughts Pete Enns shares here will not have crossed the minds of many evangelical Christians or to Christians of other brands who emphasize strict observance and piety. In my view it serves as is yet another example of how separated theContinue reading “Pete Enns: Christmas in “Christian America” and the Old Testament”
The Internet Monk Archives 