Two weeks ago, Janai and I finished reading H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. Published in 1897, the book is considered one of the earliest works of the science fiction genre. As the title suggests, the story’s central figure is a mysterious man who has discovered a chemical formula that makes him invisible. Early portions of the narrative describe the curious musings…
In a blog post on August 1st, I looked at resistance to wearing face masks as indicative of deeper commitments about the nature of freedom and how Jesus’ actions in Matthew’s Gospel can provide guidance for this subject. In a subsequent article, I attempted to show disagreement is often connected to differences in how a person gathers and arranges knowledge, structures their…
In a previous post (August 1st) on resistance to wearing masks I was asked about going a little deeper on what I believe divides people on this particular issue and others similar to it. In this post I try to look at how disagreement is often connected to differences in how a person gathers and arranges knowledge, structures their thought, and communicates…
“When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher pay the tax?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first and said, ‘What do you think Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?’…
For the past several months I’ve been working on a chapter, “The Pilgrims and Religious Liberty,” to be included in an upcoming book: Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth: A Quadricentennial Celebration of the Mayflower Pilgrims, 1620–2020. Months of research have brought some surprises, dispelled some myths, and led to the conclusion—which almost always accompanies honest investigation—that history is complicated. The nuances,…
Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple by Cecco Caravaggio (1610) “And Jesus told those who sold pigeons, ‘take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’” John 2:16–17 Earlier this week, there was a post circulating on social media that had an…
Each Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle lists the ten most popular fiction and non-fiction reads among Bay Area residents. Most books have been published in the last two years. A few weeks ago, however, a modern classic cracked the tenth spot: The Plague (1947) by Albert Camus (1913–1960). COVID19 is an ostensible explanation for The Plague’s bump in readership. With no premonition…
Several weeks ago, a member of our church wrote a letter to the editor of the Sonoma Index Tribune requesting a Day of Prayer in light of COVID19. One local resident was critical of the idea, claiming that the community should be focused on action, not prayer, which he claimed is ineffective. https://www.sonomanews.com/opinion/letters/10915623-181/letters-to-the-editor-april See my response below. An April 24th Letter…
Holy Saturday. If you grew up like me, you thought of this day as a kind of interim period after Good Friday and before Easter. Preparation for Sunday was a big component, especially in the evening. There was admittedly little reflection on the meaning of the 30-something hours when Jesus’ body lay in the grave. What after all, was there to think…
“For none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”—Romans 14:7–8 The Novel Coronavirus may be novel to 21st century Westerners, but plagues of various kinds were the norm…