CCBlogs thinking critically, living faithfully

My novel, A Wretched Man, is in the process of becoming digitized and available through your favorite eBook reader (Kindle, Nook, etc.).  Is that a good thing? Read more … Related Posts: (or not)A Wretched Man: novel to be released soon“Few born Angels” and Paul the ApostleI’ve started a new blogNew Reviews for A Wretched [...]

The book received a pair of excellent reviews over the weekend.  “A stupendous novel” said one reviewer.  Another called it “a phenomenal novel”. Read more … Related Posts: (or not)I’ve started a new blogA Wretched Man Novel print runA Wretched Man novel release date set“Few born Angels” and Paul the ApostleA Wretched Man novel: 2nd [...]

The book received a pair of excellent reviews over the weekend.  “A stupendous novel” said one reviewer.  Another called it “a phenomenal novel”. Read more … Related Posts: (or not)I’ve started a new blogA Wretched Man Novel print runDigital eBooks for good or illA Wretched Man novel release date set“Few born Angels” and Paul the [...]

  The blogosphere and traditional media are abuzz today with news of the ELCA Rite of Reconciliation service conducted yesterday in California.  An associated press article has appeared in traditional media across the country, and the New York Times offered its own report.  For those new to this blog or unfamiliar with this story, here [...]

This spring, I offered a blog post entitled “I have a crush on Rachel Maddow.”  Last night, she again earned my respect and hopefully that of all open-minded folks when she took on Fox News and Bill O’Reilly for their blatant twisting of the news for political effect.  Maddow said the following to O’Reilly: your [...]

A lengthy essay by Brad R Braxton (Baptist minister and seminary professor) appearing in the Huffington Post seeks to answer this question.  Since this blog purports to be about “progressive, religious themes”, we’ll pick up this thread.  Braxton writes: According to some accounts, the term “progressive Christian” surfaced in the 1990s and began replacing the [...]

I first read Gagnon’s treatise shortly after its 2001 release, and I read it again a few weeks ago in preparation for leading a workshop at the recent Lutherans Concerned Convention.  He is an accomplished exegete, and his historical-critical Biblical research is solid; however, his conclusions are suspect.  Even as he surrenders the gay-bashing “clobber [...]

Last week at the PCUSA General Assembly in Minneapolis (GA219), a group of LGBT activists moved to the podium of the convention floor and refused to leave until the police ushered them out.   The protest was organized by Soulforce and it’s executive director, Cindi Love.  Here’s a link to the video from a local television [...]

In 1969, the incumbent president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) was voted out of office by a conservative faction that disdained the synod’s ecumenical relations with more moderate Lutheran bodies and the teaching of the historical-critical method of Biblical interpretation rather than a literalistic, infallibility doctrine.  In response, many LCMS moderates started Seminex [...]

On Saturday afternoon, a multitude of gays and their straight allies recessed the LCNA biennial convention on the campus of Augsburg college in Minneapolis to return to the venues that were so historic last summer at CWA09.  First, along with hundreds of others from around the twin cities and farther (I bumped into my Wisconsin [...]

The bienniel convention of Lutherans Concerned North America (LCNA)opened yesterday at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.  LCNA is the principal LGBT advocacy group for Lutherans and several hundred gathered for the first time since the historic policy changes at the 2009 ELCA churchwide assembly.  Not surprisingly, the mood was electric and celebratory. The stirring opening worship was [...]

Here is an email I just received from the office of ELCA secretary, David Swartling. As of June 30, the Office of the Secretary has been advised that 462 congregations have taken first votes to terminate their relationship with the ELCA (some congregations have taken more than one first vote).  Of these 462 congregations that [...]

I was scheduled to autograph copies of my novel, A Wretched Man, in the Cokesbury bookstore in mid afternoon.  I arrived an hour early in order to set up and to visit at the booths of the 4-5 LGBT advocacy groups clustered together in a prominent location of the exhibit hall. I met some very nice folks and gladly [...]

Yesterday, I visited the exhibit hall at the Mpls Convention Center where 2100 Presbyterians (PCUSA) will gather this week for their 219th General Assembly.  The local newspaper offered an excellent preview. According to the lead in the Minneapolis Star Tribune article: Motions about same-sex marriage, gay clergy and a controversial stand on the Middle East [...]

Later this morning, I’ll drive 50 miles up the freeway to check out the Minneapolis Convention Center where the various entities that will comprise the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) will be setting up.  As I write this, the live feed from the PCUSA convention website says the convention will open [...]

During this morning’s weekly Blue Monday coffee shop theology table discussion with area ELCA pastors, I suggested that as a historian and novelist rather than clergy, I bring a different point of view to the weekly lectionary.  I have an eye for conflict. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of [...]

This is essentially a reprint of my Stonewall post from a year ago.  The response to the police raid on Stonewall, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York City, June 28, 1969 marked the beginning of the gay rights movement. For many, progress toward full equality and inclusion of LGBT folks seems slow; yet, [...]

Catholic Coalition for Church Reform Australian born Michael Bayly is a leading spokesman for the local (Minnesota) gay Christian community.  He serves as the executive coordinator of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM), the editor of The Progressive Catholic Voice, and co-chair of the Minnesota-based Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR).  Earlier this [...]

Was it something we said? In a posting on the WordAlone website dated June 23rd, WordAlone vice president Tom Walker announced an “irrevocable change of direction”—suggesting, of course, that it was the ELCA that has shifted course.  Remember the infamous line “we aren’t leaving the ELCA.  The ELCA is the one leaving us.”  Well, label [...]

What motivates us as human beings?  Why do we do what we do? I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. I see in my members another law at war [...]