“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” As the officiant speaks, hands in the congregation trace a simple pattern: forehead, navel, left shoulder, right shoulder…

I’m not actually opposed to using technology (I even wrote this essay on a computer and you’re probably reading it on one now) and I don’t believe God will really come down to destroy the internet. But, I am opposed to the uncritical use of technology as a medium for communication and I do believe God speaks more in spite of technology than through it. As we continue to press forward into the electronic age, I hope to use the story of Babel as a means of considering the limitations of electronic communication. By keeping the following two thoughts in mind, just maybe we can help prevent our own Techno-Babel: 1) Relationships are necessary for accurate communication; and 2) God is the only medium for real human connection.

A book review of Jeremy Begbie’s Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music

An article working through mixed feelings about the PostSecret project.

Gregory of Nazianzus is my favorite Cappadocian father. That probably makes me a nerd, but I love Gregory’s brilliant and biting polemical rhetoric. His thoughts, conclusions, and arguments about the Trinity make my head spin and my imagination take flight. Most of all, there are ways he seems to be a kindred spirit, of like temperament. He prefers the quiet, studious life of contemplation and monasticism but was called to the priesthood, and eventually the episcopate, against his will. Consequently, Gregory’s thoughts on the role of theology in the priesthood are fascinating…

Amongst the bare, chill trees…

Following the tradition of reflecting on “the last words of Christ,” writers offer six meditations on the “last words of the Old Humanity” to mark the occasion of Good Friday.

Folks like Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker think that if modern science is true, then Christianity is false. Unfortunately, lots of folks in the pews believe them– and so, many Christians either lose their faith or turn a blind eye to science. But Dawkins and Pinker are wrong, and so are the know-nothings and the young-earthers. We future pastors and church leaders should be taught why, so that we can go out and speak the truth about faith and science to our congregations and communities.

In Reinventing Eden: The Fate of Nature in Western Culture, Carolyn Merchant describes the dominant narrative of Western Culture with particular attention to the ways in which it has been historically problematic for the environment, women, Native Americans, and African Americans.