Originally posted December 2005 Credits: for my book club, who once again chose something fascinating I wouldn’t ordinarily have picked up. Synopsis This is the story of Janie, a black beautiful woman in the 1930’s. Told in flashback to a close female friend, she relates her childhood and three marriages. In doing so she also…
The inadequacy of institutionalized religious responses to the jarring reality of real life issues is part of Spong’s self-questioning. He finds hope as well as pain, however, in his search, expressing the excitement of thoughtful study and discussion with like-minded others in an effort to find a Christianity of integrity, love, and equality. It’s clear…
In a similarly challenging situation several years later, Spong has people come to his house, purporting to be friends who represent his entire congregation. They suggest strongly that he, as a white man, should vote according to the racist status quo, and inform him his future in the town and as a priest is at…
Originally posted October 2005 Credits: for Peter McWilliams, author of the fascinating Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country and a victim of the so-called “War Against Drugs,” who first let me know of Spong’s wonderful writing. Also for Retired Bishop Spong himself, for making me think…
There is no doubt in the writing of the author of John as to whether Jesus loved that disciple. Is this a physical as well as spiritual love? There is nothing in John to either verify or deny this speculation. However, in the Gnostic scriptures, also known as the Dead Sea scrolls, there is some…
Where I postulate freely that Mary Magdalene was both the disciple Jesus loved, and possibly the true author of the gospel of John. This is a paper from a truly exciting class on History and Literature of the New Testament, taught in 1993 by the amazing prof’s Buck and Luotto — thank you both so…
When I was a child… On the other hand, there were a few things I found perplexing, although it’s possible I found them so due to their being anachronistic (they are quite google-able for the curious, I may add). For example, who is Farinata? Why or how did Rousseau first reveal the supposedly “very human”…
Originally posted July 2005 To the librarians whose names I can’t remember now, who happily helped a small child find and devour each eagerly awaited, newly arrived Narnia book. Also to the tiny handful of wonderful, thought-provoking, and truly religious people who recommended this book to me. It took a while for me to get…
Originally reviewed April 2004 The Book If you’re looking for excitement and adventure in your reading, Beryl Markham’s autobiography West with the Night is an excellent choice. An English aristocrat raised in Africa, her life reads like a blood-stirring adventure novel. The fascinating adventure stories never stop, almost dancing from exploit to dangerous, hair-raising exploit….
4. Marriage should be just for child-rearing My first thought at assertions like this is: “Why?” Kids don’t care if there’s a piece of paper holding their family together — and that piece of paper has proven notoriously incapable of doing so anyway. However, let’s work through this theory rationally. If marriage is just for…