MenuBy Ellen Blue In the early days of the church, when Christians were being persecuted and even martyred, there was great excitement about dying for the faith. There are stories about believers who refused to be rescued from martyrdom even when they could have avoided it. There are tales of people who, on witnessing the […]
Within Christian circles, the debate about homosexuality has been at the forefront over the past few decades. It is not that this issue was unheard of until recently, but that it was not the focus of so much attention. Much like the civil rights movement and the women’s movement, there was no problem as long […]
Phillips Theological Seminary is in a season of transition. Not so much in the understanding of our identity as a school offering theological education dedicated to learning the way of Jesus in order to cultivate vital congregations, communities, conversations, and the public good. Or in our core commitment to preparing Christian leadership for churches, non-profit […]
A few years ago, I attended a conference of seminary presidents. At a workshop on crisis communications, we were advised to communicate with our publics regularly so that, in a crisis, constituents would recognize the seminary’s official “voice.” That workshop persuaded me to blog weekly, a task I’ve done for three years now. However, my […]
An Egyptian official from 4,000 years ago: Joseph’s people were such ingrates. My country took in caravans of Semites who were starving. We fed them. We gave them room to grow. The problem is we were too good to them. They multiplied like rats. Their numbers threatened to overwhelm the Egyptian population. After so many […]
I nodded off in church on Sunday (okay, that’s a fiction, but go with it, please) and, immediately, I fell into a dream. In the dream, I walked into a building I knew was a church. I don’t remember how the outside of this church looked. And I did not get beyond the entryway before […]
I like to know where the food I eat and the legislation to which I am subject come from. Both are often too hard to trace! This blog is on legislation rather than food. Specifically, on legislation that implicates religion. There is a rather new, concerted, and powerful legislative effort to privilege a particular kind […]
Fred Rogers, known to generations of children and their parents, as Mister Rogers, was a Presbyterian minister. His show, begun in 1968, embodied much of old mainline Protestantism at its best. Without naming the Name, he walked the walk, in public spaces, and taught more what the way of Jesus by living it than most […]