The Tail That Keeps on Flopping
Column by Rev. David M. Felten on May, 16 2024he schism the United Methodist Church has been enduring the last few years, culminating in this Spring’s General Conference in North Carolina, is also a direct result of unresolved Civil War era prejudices.
Honest To God
Column by Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers on May, 9 2024When pastors retire after a lifetime of service to the church, they often preach a last sermon unfettered by concerns for continued employment. It is the sermon “they always wanted to preach” but were afraid to, lest some big contributor take her money and leave the building. Clergy are, by and large, not a particularly courageous lot.
Radically You
Column by Rev. Deshna Charron Shine on May, 2 2024Today, I want to talk about one of my modern-day heroes, Alok V. Menon, known as ALOK. ALOK (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed poet, comedian, public speaker, and actor. I’ll add prophet. ALOK speaks brave truth to power and firmly holds themself in compassion and love.
Progressive Christian Visibility Day
Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on April, 25 2024That great defender of the faith, Don Trump, responding in faux outrage to the fact that Trans Visibility Day happened to coincide with Easter this year, declared that Election Day 2024 should be “Christian Visibility Day.” As if Christians have a visibility problem in America today.
The Aquinas Nobody (or Hardly Anybody) Knows
Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on April, 18 2024It has been my privilege to absorb the teachings of Aquinas in my training as a Dominican and in particular with two notable scholars, Father Athanasius Weisheipl, OP (who went from the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois to the Institute of Medieval Studies in Toronto) and the esteemed Aquinas scholar, theologian and historian, Father M. D. Chenu, OP.
Timeless Womb
Column by Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. on April, 11 2024Scholars have debated for decades whether Jesus referred to himself as “the son of God.” I agree with those who conclude no. Jesus, as Walter Wink demonstrates, most likely understood and spoke of himself in the tradition of the prophet Ezekiel, as “the son of man,” or “the human one”.
Evangelicals Support of Trump Renders Christianity Unrecognizable
Column by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz on April, 4 2024Who is Donald Trump? As our nation prepares for another contentious presidential election seven months from now, the cult and menace of Donald Trump continue to loom large on the horizon. It would be hard to imagine a more dishonest, corrupt, and unfit candidate for President of the United States.
Spending Words
Column by Rev. Gretta Vosper on March, 28 2024I doubt anyone who reads Progressing Spirit believes there is a supernatural god called God who hands out parcels of land to this people or that. Yet many continue to use the word “god” to name something they believe in, which is not a supernatural being who hands out parcels of land to this people or that.
Holy Week
Column by Dr. Carl Krieg on March, 21 2024The chronology of the week is where the difficulty originates. Most Christians believe that first Jesus was crucified, and then he rose from the dead. The reality is that first came the resurrection and then the crucifixion. This is crucial.
Choosing the Kin-dom: Benefits of Relinquishment
Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on March, 14 2024A dominant message, at least in Western media, is that we deserve better and we will get there. For the profanely privileged or perpetually oppressed, modernity and capitalism peddle fixes for all, if we just vote right.
Waking Up in a Shaking Up
Column by Brian McLaren on March, 7 2024When I studied the resurgence of life after the world’s five previous extinction events — the Ordovician-silurian, Devonian, Permian-triassic, Triassic-jurassic, and Cretaceous-tertiary — I felt like I was witnessing an Easter-morning resurrection.
Now Is the Time
Column by Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin on February, 29 2024“The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” If you did not know already, it will not surprise you to know that quote is from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Like LGBTQ+ couples was W. E. B. Dubois a romantic at heart?
Column by Rev. Irene Monroe on February, 22 2024This Valentine’s Day, I pay homage to W. E. B. Du Bois’s 1924 novel “Dark Princess” because it highlights the least talked about subject then and now: Black love.
It’s Time For Us To Be Kind
Column by Rev. Brandan Robertson on February, 15 2024This is an excerpt from my book Dry Bones and Holy Wars released by Orbis Books in 2021.
Zombie Apocalypse and A Call to Authentic Christianity
Column by Rev. Roger Wolsey on February, 8 2024A prominent theme of U.S. American pop culture over the past decade has been fascination with a “zombie apocalypse.”
Now’s the Time to Defend Science Against Fundamentalism
Column by Rev. David M. Felten on February, 1 2024What better time than February 12th and Charles Darwin’s birthday (by rights, one of the most important days on your Liturgical Calendar) to turn our thoughts once again to the critical role Progressive Christians have as a defense against those who think subverting science somehow promotes their religion.
Vignettes of Christmas 2023
Column by Dr. Carl Krieg on January, 25 2024The situation is complicated. Churches are not supposed to endorse candidates. Indeed, many churches have members who support Trump. Some members place more faith in Trump than they do in Jesus. Yes, literally.
An Eye For An Eye?
Column by Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers on January, 18 2024If progressive Christians pride themselves on radical truth-telling, then our time has come, and it will be dangerous. .. what will happen to those of us who have long-held unpopular and unorthodox religious beliefs?
Letting Go (Death) is Hard but Practice Makes it (a Little) Easier
Column by Rev. Deshna Charron Shine on January, 11 2024When I think about my parents dying, emotions are quick to the surface, tears arise, and my heart squeezes. Death is one thing we all experience, and yet, it is the scariest, most traumatic thing we face as humans.
The Edge the Mystics Bring to Religion and Spirituality
Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on January, 4 2024It is no secret that institutional religion in the West finds itself in decline. There are as many people identifying as “Nones” …
Talking With One Another
Column by Dr. Carl Krieg on December, 21 2023The church must create places for dialog and it must do so before it is too late. This winter and next spring the various churches must organize discussions about who we are as the body politic and how we want to live.
You and I and AI
Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on December, 14 2023Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents both dangers and benefits and when viewed from a progressive Christian perspective, it prompts ethical and moral considerations.
How do you rise in the morning from the dark sea of sleep?
Column by Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. on December, 7 2023I find that the perseverating mind commences before the fifth breath is even drawn. With a bullet train of thoughts underway, the nervous system is stimulated and sometimes already pumping your body with cortisol.
In-Tensions: The fraught work of world peace
Column by Rev. Gretta Vosper on November, 30 2023Ever since the first mind countenanced an unknown source of benevolence, religion has held us together as powerfully as it has driven us apart.
The Imperative of a Two-State Solution: A Path To Peace for Israel/ Palestine
Column by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz on November, 23 2023What deeply concerns me about Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza is “what’s it all going to look like/ feel like on the other side”–when the violence has stopped?