Let me say right off that I admire Krister Stendahl. He taught for many years at Harvard, and also served as the Lutheran bishop of Stockholm. He is a fine theologian-churchman and I have learned much from his writings. But when I spoke to the Southern California Ecumenical Council the other day, I began by […]
I keep reading about how bad it is to be a “theocrat,” so every chance I get I try to own up to the fact that I am one of them. I am a theocrat.
I know I am taking a bit of a risk in owning up to that label. “Theocrat” functions these days a...
The other day I was interviewed by some folks from Danish television, for a special they are doing on debates about religion in public life in America. They asked good questions, although I was not quite prepared to be quizzed as much as I was about creation and evolution.
Not that I have no thoughts about...
When the well-known Christian ethicist James Gustafson gave the 1981 Ryerson Lectures at the University of Chicago, he chose as his title, “Say Something Theological.” He took the title from a conversation he had at a cocktail party with a chemistry professor who, when he heard that Gustafson was a theology professor, challenged him to “say...
I think there have been only two times that I have spent more than a minute watching Jerry Springer. One occasion was at a car wash and the other at a place where I took my car for an oil change. In each case it was pretty much unavoidable–I had to spend 20 minutes or so in...
Nine years ago I made it into the big time. I got quoted in Sports Illustrated. In January 1998 that magazine did a cover story on the question of whether God cares who wins the Super Bowl. Several of us in the theological world were interviewed, but at a key point I was pitted against the Packers’...
During the past week or so I have been thinking a lot about torture. My thoughts have been occasioned by two factors. One is that I have been preparing a keynote address on the topic for a conference on “saying no to torture,” sponsored by a Presbyterian group. The other is that Jack Bauer is back.
...
I saw the news channels’ tape of Saddam Hussein’s execution, and I have to confess that I also sought out the grainy clandestine online version, with the shuffling and shouting. Brian McLaren’s comment captures my response exactly. It is hard not to “feel dirty” about witnessing the spectacle.
But I must also confess that I have...
There is an interesting piece posted today on the Acton Institute Website: “Self Interest, Rightly Understood,” by Samuel Gregg (http://www.acton.org/ppolicy/comment/article.php?article=360)
The following is one of Gregg’s central contentions:
“As individuals pursue profit, they unintentionally add to the sum total of the wealth in society, unintentionally allow people from different nations to come to know each...
I try to keep my signing of “public” letters to a minimum, but this group’s efforts are very worthy:
National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East
December 12, 2006
The Honorable Dr. Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
...
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