“Confession is not about receiving a lesser sentence in some kind of cosmic documentation of rights and wrongs but is rather about becoming healthy. Confession is about acknowledging sin to work toward healing it.” A student in my summer class … Continue reading
There are two concepts that have been defining concepts for my theology and spirituality the last ten years or so: Frenzy and Void. Now, these aren’t included in any other list that I know of. They’re not in the classical … Continue reading
Some dissertation musings I wrote out, more of a sketch of thoughts than a final product. But it shows a little bit what I’m thinking about these days. Oppressors don’t feel guilt, and they don’t orient their sin around guilt. … Continue reading
Last night I had the privilege of teaching on the topic of the spiritual discipline of confession. I’m slowly making my transition from depending on a complete written out manuscript (such an academic thing to do) to speaking more freely. … Continue reading
Something I wrote just about six years ago: “Stay in your cell and your cell will teach you everything.” So says a desert father. Well, more than one. It’s a theme which runs through the deep spiritual writings of the … Continue reading
“Important is the fact that by the continued creative activity of his Spirit, God constantly rescues his creatures from the entanglement in self-centeredness that comes as result of their anxieties and desires. In spite of sin and its ramifications, then, … Continue reading
Sin understood as guilt-oriented lapses often leads to church structures that have the goal of pacification of its members, rather than formation. Emphasis on identity formation has the potential to radically affect church life, with the goal being wholeness, which … Continue reading
Every person is not just what he actual is, but is also the actor playing himself. We can be more than we see, but we can also seem to be more than we are. Then we present ourselves as we … Continue reading
“The person who fails to find God loses the source of their own life, acts against the ‘commandment unto life’, and so instead of finding life, finds death instead. Anyone who turns away from the living God and relies on … Continue reading
In conservative religious circles women have had a difficult time existing. Either they are forced into compulsive passivity or they are crushed by male dominated hierarchies; reduced or kicked out. Some religions keep women locked away, essentially if not totally, … Continue reading
