An earnest and heartfelt exploration of Merritt’s spiritual journey but also an odd blend of Southern Baptist evangelical culture and progressive attempts to rework faith in light of modern experience and perspectives.
Continue readingPosts Tagged → Religion and Spirituality
Every Bush Is Burning by Brandon Clements
What I found interesting was the portrayal of believable characters and their emotions, thought processes and actions under difficult circumstances. In viewing the world through their eyes you can see how often we are stubbornly sabotaging out lives, how we know what we should do but have a very hard time doing it, and how we long for forgiveness and reconciliation but struggle to offer it to others.
Continue readingEvery Bush Is Burning by Brandon Clements
What I found interesting was the portrayal of believable characters and their emotions, thought processes and actions under difficult circumstances. In viewing the world through their eyes you can see how often we are stubbornly sabotaging out lives, how we know what we should do but have a very hard time doing it, and how we long for forgiveness and reconciliation but struggle to offer it to others.
Continue readingThe Reformation: A History by Patrick Collinson [audio]
In just a few hundred pages The Reformation: A History explores a fascinating and revolutionary period in the history of the West. A period that still shapes the way we think and speak of Christianity, theology, politics, culture, etc. That it is done with wit and eloquence makes it that much more remarkable.
Continue readingA Call to Doubt and Faith: Christian Wiman on Remembering God
The poet Christian Wiman is giving voice to the hunger for faith — and the challenges of faith — for people living now. After a Texas upbringing soaked in a history of violence and a charismatic Christian culture, he was agnostic until he became actively religious again in his late 30s. Then he was diagnosed with a rare form of incurable blood cancer. He’s bearing witness to something new happening in himself and in the world.
Continue readingNew York Times on ‘My Bright Abyss,’ by Christian Wiman
‘My Bright Abyss,’ by Christian Wiman reviewed at the NYT:
This is a daring and urgent book, written after the author learned he had a rare, incurable and unpredictable cancer. But it is not a conventional memoir of illness and treatment. Beyond informing us that he received his dire news in a “curt voice mail message,” Christian Wiman says very little about his experience of the medical world. He is after bigger game. More than any other contemporary book I know, “My Bright Abyss” reveals what it can mean to experience St. Benedict’s admonition to keep death daily before your eyes.
New York Times on ‘My Bright Abyss,’ by Christian Wiman
‘My Bright Abyss,’ by Christian Wiman reviewed at the NYT:
This is a daring and urgent book, written after the author learned he had a rare, incurable and unpredictable cancer. But it is not a conventional memoir of illness and treatment. Beyond informing us that he received his dire news in a “curt voice mail message,” Christian Wiman says very little about his experience of the medical world. He is after bigger game. More than any other contemporary book I know, “My Bright Abyss” reveals what it can mean to experience St. Benedict’s admonition to keep death daily before your eyes.
Noah's Ark – Heinz Janisch (Adapter), Lisbeth Zwerger (Illustrator)
Rather than a “review” I thought I would post a gallery that gives you some idea of the art this book contains. Not surprisingly I found it to be a wonderfully evocative presentation of this classic story.
Continue readingKicking at the Darkness: Bruce Cockburn and the Christian Imagination by Brian J. Walsh
I have been a fan of Bruce Cockburn‘s music since I was in high school. I have dozens of his albums and generally buy each new release. Granted, our politics don’t exactly line up perfectly but I have always appreciated his depth and insight – the poetry and wisdom of his lyrics and the beauty… Continue reading