William Blake on the duty of creativity
This is an excerpt from a letter written by English poet and artist William Blake. Now, make no mistake, Blake was a really weird guy, with some very eclectic and heterodox religious views. I am not in...
View ArticleSartre’s ‘bad faith’ and your ‘identity in Christ’
I'm talking about the truth you know you're supposed to speak, the work of art you're supposed to create, the words you are supposed to write, the quest you are supposed to embark upon, the risky thing...
View ArticleEulogy for my grandmother, Dona Kathleen “Kathy” McDaniel
I knew, even while I was writing these responses to her, that we were actually conspiring together, with God kind of guiding our hands, on the shape of the future of my family. Even generations after...
View ArticleMy grandmother was a secret theologian
For the last 18 years of her life, my Mamah was a brilliant, self-educated, Reformed Baptist, Puritan, Calvinist theologian. And I had absolutely no idea. Even though I have undergrad and graduate...
View ArticleHow Derek Webb’s Music Changed My Life: The non-book
Derek's lyrics were a bright light directly in my face. They were a mirror one inch from my eyeballs, allowing me to see every imperfection and hypocritical flaw in me. They were a steady reminder of...
View ArticleG.K. Chesterton on artists, courage, and expression
"...it should obviously be the aim of the musician to die with all his music out of him; even if this ideal state of things can seldom be achieved. The point is here, however, that it is not enough...
View ArticlePostmodern Christian Theology: The Modern Problem
The following is appended from something I wrote in the Fall of 2006 for a college seminar in Postmodernity and Theology. This is more of an exercise in revisiting old ideas for me, and also a...
View ArticlePostmodern Christian Theology: History is Necessary
(See the first part of this three-part post here: Postmodern Christian Theology: The Modern Problem) The following is appended from something I wrote in the Fall of 2006 for a college seminar in...
View ArticleRestless Rest (Like Father, Like Son)
Though we both know full well that he needs to rest, my 15-month old son cries and struggles and screams to break free from my arms. I’m holding him not to entrap him, but to love him. I’m trying to...
View ArticleEvery day is Easter
Every day is Easter. Easter is proof that what Christians believe and proclaim to the world is crazy –or it ought to sound that way if we’re doing it right. God, as the Author who enters his own story,...
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