Our theology discussion group met on Thursday. We've been reading Karen Armstrong's A History of God, and our assignment this time was chapter 6, "The God of the Philosophers."
Leave it to Google ... again! Wondering about the date of Ash Wednesday in 2006 (the first day of Lent), I googled "lent 2006". What popped up was a link to this calendar, which I am so glad to know about. The fact that it's an interfaith calendar with a worldwide perspective heightens my interest and underscores its usefulness.
As the Internet is arguably one of the most powerful forces of social change conceived by humankind, this topic will be the new focus of my blog. I'm going to focus on how the Internet is changing the congregation; thus, transforming the church through its wisdom from the bottom up.
Tim Bednar's blog at e-church has its ups and downs. This new focus looks to be quite helpful, especially if it fulfllls its promise of describing changes the Internet is effecting in the way congregations live, work, communicate, and worship.
I don't preach a social gospel; I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, "Now is that political or social?" He said, "I feed you." Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.
I really like the spirit expressed in this quote from Bishop Desmond Tutu. In saying there's not a "social gospel" separable from the gospel itself, this African bishop sounds positively Celtic.
This is, to me, a fascinating interview with Dawkins. Reminds me of the Penn Jillette essay for "This I believe"/NPR in which he states that he believes there is no God. Part of Dawkins' persona seems to be to put controversy in the strongest possible terms, but in the interview he seems relatively calm, reasonable, dispassionate.
James Wall, editor of The Christian Century, offers (link above) a promising analysis and suggestion for a change in the terminology we "progressive" Christians use to refer to ourselves.