Bryan Berghoef's Blog, page 9
March 27, 2013
In Session: Pub Theology 101
A Guide to Cultivating Meaningful Conversations at the Pub
You've heard about people gathering at the pub to talk about God and faith, and wondered, why aren't I doing this? Now you can, thanks to this new guide by Bryan Berghoef, author of Pub Theology: Beer, Conversation, and God. Here Pub Theology 101Bryan walks through all the steps to beginning your own Pub Theology group, from choosing a location to deciding what to talk about. (You'll have to make your own decision as to whether you pr...
You've heard about people gathering at the pub to talk about God and faith, and wondered, why aren't I doing this? Now you can, thanks to this new guide by Bryan Berghoef, author of Pub Theology: Beer, Conversation, and God. Here Pub Theology 101Bryan walks through all the steps to beginning your own Pub Theology group, from choosing a location to deciding what to talk about. (You'll have to make your own decision as to whether you pr...
March 14, 2013
Reading the Bible: The Driscoll Effect
Awhile back someone posted this tweet of Mark Driscoll’s on their Facebook page:
@Pastor Mark: "If you seek to change the Bible, it is not the Bible you believe in but rather yourself."
I decided to comment. This led to quite an exchange about the nature of interpreting and understanding the Bible. I share this because I wonder if you can relate, and perhaps, you may have an insight to add. I also do so to highlight the nature of this conversation between an evangelical approach that leans on...
@Pastor Mark: "If you seek to change the Bible, it is not the Bible you believe in but rather yourself."
I decided to comment. This led to quite an exchange about the nature of interpreting and understanding the Bible. I share this because I wonder if you can relate, and perhaps, you may have an insight to add. I also do so to highlight the nature of this conversation between an evangelical approach that leans on...
March 5, 2013
Those Who Would Know
A poem, from the late Chuck Trafelet of Traverse City, Michigan:
Those who would know the truth
Must be prepared to accept
It for what it is; for once it
Is known there can be no
Turning back, no denying
Its existence, and not always
Can you exchange what is
For what you wish it to be Continue reading →
Those who would know the truth
Must be prepared to accept
It for what it is; for once it
Is known there can be no
Turning back, no denying
Its existence, and not always
Can you exchange what is
For what you wish it to be Continue reading →
February 28, 2013
The Woman Caught in a Heresy
[the earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have John 8:1-11] 8 1but Jesus went to the Mount of Orthodoxy. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered round him, … Continue reading →
February 20, 2013
Of Gulls and Men
I read Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck recently. There’s this terrific moment when one of the main characters, Pilon, has a sacred encounter with sea gulls:
“These birds are flying across the forehead of the Father. Dear birds, dear sea gulls, how I love you all. Your slow wings stroke my heart as the hand of a gentle master strokes the full stomach of a sleeping dog, as the hand of Christ stroked the heads of little children. Dear birds,” he thought, “fly to our Lady of Sweet Sorrows with my...
“These birds are flying across the forehead of the Father. Dear birds, dear sea gulls, how I love you all. Your slow wings stroke my heart as the hand of a gentle master strokes the full stomach of a sleeping dog, as the hand of Christ stroked the heads of little children. Dear birds,” he thought, “fly to our Lady of Sweet Sorrows with my...
February 18, 2013
God Doesn’t Need our Help, But He Asks for It
James K. A. Smith wrote a new blog post this morning, and since, per usual, no comments are allowed, I thought I’d respond with a post of my own. And, per usual, your comments are welcome!
He begins with this notion that there is now a “new apologetics” afoot in Christianity to make the faith more palatable in an age of intellectualism and postmodernity:
In our age of post-Christian anxiety, where so many worry about young people leaving the faith and the implausibility of Christianity in a s...
He begins with this notion that there is now a “new apologetics” afoot in Christianity to make the faith more palatable in an age of intellectualism and postmodernity:
In our age of post-Christian anxiety, where so many worry about young people leaving the faith and the implausibility of Christianity in a s...
February 15, 2013
Think You’ve Got it? Think Again
On the Problem With Agreement and Disagreement.
A guest post by Peter Rollins.
One of the things that I often see in discussions concerning some thinker is the use of the phrases “agree” and “disagree.” For instance, in relation to my own work I often see phrases like, “I agree with much of what says,” “I don’t agree with everything” or “I disagree with…”
These terms can initially seem like evidence of critical thinking (i.e. someone is willing to critically affirm or question what they are r...
A guest post by Peter Rollins.
One of the things that I often see in discussions concerning some thinker is the use of the phrases “agree” and “disagree.” For instance, in relation to my own work I often see phrases like, “I agree with much of what says,” “I don’t agree with everything” or “I disagree with…”
These terms can initially seem like evidence of critical thinking (i.e. someone is willing to critically affirm or question what they are r...
February 11, 2013
Pontifexit: Pope to Step Down
ROME (NY Times) — Citing advanced years and infirmity, Pope Benedict XVI stunned the Roman Catholic world on Monday by saying that he would resign on Feb. 28 after less than eight years in office, the first pope to do so in six centuries.
Not six decades. Six centuries! 600 years!$! The last pope to resign was apparently Gregory XII, who left the papacy in 1415 to end what was known as the Western Schism among several competitors for the papacy.
Surprising.
I don't have a lot to say on this,...
Not six decades. Six centuries! 600 years!$! The last pope to resign was apparently Gregory XII, who left the papacy in 1415 to end what was known as the Western Schism among several competitors for the papacy.
Surprising.
I don't have a lot to say on this,...
February 7, 2013
Apology NOT Accepted
So this came across the wire today:
(RELIGION NEWS SERVICE) – A Lutheran pastor in Newtown, Conn., has apologized after being reprimanded for participating in an interfaith vigil following the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The Rev. Rob Morris, pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church, prayed at the vigil the Sunday following the Dec. 14 shootings alongside other Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Baha'i clergy.
Morris' church is a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod,...
(RELIGION NEWS SERVICE) – A Lutheran pastor in Newtown, Conn., has apologized after being reprimanded for participating in an interfaith vigil following the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The Rev. Rob Morris, pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church, prayed at the vigil the Sunday following the Dec. 14 shootings alongside other Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Baha'i clergy.
Morris' church is a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod,...
February 5, 2013
The Larger Hope
Came across this selection from In Memoriam A.H.H., by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Terrific stuff - if you've never read the entire poem - it's worth it. It was a favorite of Queen Victoria, and considered by many among the greatest poems of the 19th century. Guess it's poetry week around here.
From Wikipedia:
It is a requiem for the poet's Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833. Because it was written over a period of 17 years, its medi...
From Wikipedia:
It is a requiem for the poet's Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833. Because it was written over a period of 17 years, its medi...
