a pastor in Austin
From the category archives:
A few events have me reflecting on where we are at right now:
This month is the fifth anniversary of this blog. I haven’t been as consistent in sharing my thoughts here as I was in the early days, but the thoughts I’ve shared and comments of others have made this a significant part of [...]
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In recent years, I’ve had the opportunity to develop friendships with three different men who were trying to navigate the tension between what it meant to be gay and Christian. Each was at a different place in his story when I first got befriended him, but each story had one thing in common…living between the [...]
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We read scripture in order to be refreshed in our memory and understanding of the story within which we ourselves are actors, to be reminded where it has come from and where it is going to, and hence what our own part within it ought to be. — NT Wright
Our Sunday gatherings for Austin Mustard [...]
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Through ViralBloggers.com I was given an opportunity to review Jesus, Interrupted by Bart Erhman. (I promise this blog isn’t going to be reduced to an outlet for book reviews even if it’s looked like that lately!)
For those unfamiliar with Ehrman, he has an interesting background. A former evangelical, he was educated at Moody, Wheaton, and [...]
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About this time last year, I found out that Q would be held in Austin in 2009. I was excited by that…and even more excited a few months ago when a few generous people made it possible for me to attend!
I have grown weary, and leary, of large conferences that are impersonal and driven by [...]
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It’s as if Rodney Stark wrote The Rise of Christianity with me in mind. The subject matter of Christianity, and the historical and analytical presentation style are all right up my alley. Through the perspective of a sociologist, Stark dug through the first 300 years of Christianity to see what it was that caused Christianity [...]
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Today, I’m honored to be the guest blogger in the Good News series on JR Woodward’s blog. Hope you’ll make your way over there to read my thoughts and join the discussion in the comments section.
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Makoto Fujimura is a contemporary artist whose home and studio are near Ground Zero. Out of a response to the attacks on 9/11, he began to set aside time every Saturday to write. This was a time to process and reflect on the emotions and changes in his life and city. The result of these [...]
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This is part of a series of reflections on the meaning and importance of doing local theology…
I wrote a letter to friends and family least year to tell them about our approaching move to Austin. In that letter, I described how we looked forward to entering into the life of the city. That phrase, created [...]
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I have set up a means for you to celebrate and anticipate the resurrection of Easter with me. But first, a little background…
Easter is the most sacred of Christian holidays, marked by our community celebrations of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. But it should also be marked by anticipation before that Sunday, and reflection and [...]
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I received a review copy of A New Kind of Conversation. The subtitle is Blogging Toward a Postmodern Faith. My first impression was that this was a book about blogging, and how this online conversation is helping shape postmodern faith. I thought it might be interesting. But on a closer look, I realized it [...]
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I’ve been living with the term local theology for the last few years, trying to get my mind around what it might mean and look like. I did a search yesterday on my blog, surprised to find I’ve never written a post about it. As some of these thoughts are taking more shape, I’m bringing [...]
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I’m not sure if I would have read On the Side of the Angels, by Joseph D’Souza and Benedict Rogers, if I hadn’t been sent a review copy. Heck…I hadn’t even heard of it. After reading it, I hope that neither of those statements will be true for others.
The subtitle is Justice, Human Rights and [...]
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After about six people had recommended it, I finally got around to reading TrueFaced. To be honest with you (that is what this book is about, after all), I bought the book two years ago, after about four different friends had recommended it. So it sat on my to-read shelf for two years. And since [...]
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Maybe I somehow missed it, but I don’t recall hearing the same amount of buzz about A Thousand Splendid Suns as I did about Khalid Hosseini’s first book, The Kite Runner. That’s too bad…because it’s better.
This book represents everything about why I am serious about reading fiction. Hosseini does more than tell a story…evident in [...]
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