There is no question that the voices of marginalized people are found in the Bible if you look carefully. The New Testament also presents a picture of a beautiful man who talked about a God of love and forgiveness and who urged his followers to create communities that practiced nonviolence, inclusion, and the pursuit of social and economic justice.

It would be a service to humanity for the church to discard the doctrine of original sin and, in the process, accept a different interpretation of the Adam and Eve story that emphasizes the positive content the story predominantly contains and implicitly rejects the dark and negative Augustinian interpretation that has done and is doing such damage in the world.

The notion that God sent Jesus from heaven to earth to save the lowly earthlings might be the theological root of colonialism and cultural supremacy.

All my life, I have been taught by the church that I have been created ‘in the image of God’.   This is one of the fundamental teachings about human beings that has been given to me by the church. 

The St Thomas Collective provides a safe community for Biola students/alumni who find themselves doubting, frustrated, and spiritually homeless.

Swedish diplomat Dag Hammarskjold, the United Nations Secretary-General, was awarded a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize.  After his death, many were surprised at the content of Markings, a kind of personal diary and notebook now recognized as a  twentieth century classic of Christian spirituality.

PATHWAYS Theological Education, Inc., is a Progressive Christian learning community seeking to empower transformative leadership for justice and peace within and beyond the church by engaging heart and mind to consider what it means to know, love and serve God in today’s changing world. 

Millennials are more likely than other generations to shift from identifying as affiliated with a religious tradition to unaffiliated, according to the Pew Research Center’s most recent U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.

Colleges, churches, therapy centers, and many other institutions benefiting the public are strengthened by students who've graduated from a Christian college.

This is public theology. As precious Patrons, I’m inviting you in to my theological process. Beginning on Ash Wednesday (March 6) and concluding on Good Friday (April 19), each week I will publish a photo and brief reflection on each of Christ’s 7 Last Words on the Cross.

Offering Degrees and Certificates With a Concentration in Progressive Christianity As Well as in the Following Areas of Concentration: Evolutionary Spirituality SpiritualitySpiritual Companionship World Religions Pastoral Care and Counseling Pastoral Ministry Feminist Pastoral Ministry And More!

With thousands of subscribers around the globe, Progressing Spirit is the world’s leading outlet for an intelligent, inclusive, and pioneering exploration of today’s theological, spiritual, and social advancements.

This article discusses the impact of Jung’s theories on teaching students depth psychology and theology in a nondenominational graduate school of religion and a theological seminary. Contrasting the theological and psychological enterprises, with their concomitant dangers and benefits, the major impact of Jung’s work is the shock, wonder, fear, joy in encountering the psyche as objective, there within and among us, but a reality we do not invent. The implications for teaching and for what happens in the classroom are explored.

Crossan follows 201o’s “The Challenge of Jesus” with the newly released “The Challenge of Paul,” available free of charge to up to 1,000 congregations, colleges, or seminaries. Intrigued by the idea of bringing high-end critical pedagogy to the people, I asked Crossan how his passion for biblical studies led him to want to engage with laypeople – and what that experience has been like.

(This is the introduction to a weekly Bible study I'm starting for students at USC. A few days ago, I finished reading a remarkable little book that my dear cousin Judy sent me: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder, a Yale history professor who incisively diagnoses the present danger posed by Trump and the Republicans to the survival of democracy in this country, and offers prescriptions for action. I closed the book, took a deep breath, and resolved to do something new and different toward that end. This "Resistance Bible Study" is the result. I'll keep you posted on how it goes! Any "musings" readers wishing to do their own version of this, please go for it - and keep me posted, too.)

In his World Peace Day Message for 2017 Pope Francis states, “To be true followers of Jesus today also includes embracing his teaching about nonviolence.” This is a fine example of a bishop being what a bishop is commissioned to be by Jesus (Mt 28:19). He is teaching the disciples of Jesus “to obey all that I have commanded you.”

Dag Hammarskjold was Secretary General of the United Nations when he died in a plane crash in Africa in 1961 while on a peace-keeping mission. Widely admired for his performance in that role, he was rewarded posthumously with the Nobel Peace Prize. Distinguished as his diplomatic career was, it has been equaled remarkably in public interest in a very different sphere—that of Christian spirituality--by the publication of Markings, a sort of diary or journal published after his death. It has remained in print since the 1960’s and is generally considered one of the great Christian devotional classics of the twentieth century, frequently compared with the works of St. Augustine, Pascal, Merton and other important Christian writers.

Global Ministries University is an online international contemporary theological learning platform which is inclusive, supportive of creative thinking and honors the sacred in all religions and spiritual traditions. Global Ministries University (GMU) offers contemporary interfaith and nondenominational ministerial and theology degree and certificate programs that are ideal for ministry training and ordination. GMU students have the opportunity to custom-design the Master of Theology Degree, Doctor of Ministry Degree, and Doctor of Theology Degree to meet their academic and ministerial training needs.

Instead, we should be providing sanctuary for these refugees and immigrants who are fleeing persecution. Whether in our nation, churches, or our homes, we are to show loving-kindness, respect, and care for the well-being of all of our siblings. Isn't this what we would want others to do for us if the circumstances were reversed? Honestly, isn't this what Jesus would have us do?

Reinhold Niebuhr's brother, H. Richard, argued for faithfulness to the example of Jesus's nonviolence, while Reinhold believed this was naive and unrealistic in an imperfect world. H. Richard was the purist to the Christian faith, believing that following the Golden Rule, no matter the consequences, is what Jesus and God called us to do -- the success of the mission being in God's hands rather than our own. Reinhold, however, looked at the more practical side of things, substituting his or the world's idea of what was possible and changing his ethics accordingly. H. Richard thus trusted more in the providential moral arc of history as M.L. King, Jr. , would call it rather than a realist's version of what humans believe is attainable given their corrupt nature. In essence, H. Richard focused on the power of God's grace to transform our spirits and the world for the better, while Reinhold accepted a more cynical view of our ability to be radically changed as a specie.

We've been robbed of the power of the story of Sodom. It should be a strong companion to Matthew 25:31-46, which also gives dire warnings for those who do not serve Jesus by feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger and the other Works of Mercy. It's a path that ends in destruction.

Sometimes our greatest breach with Scripture is not when we outright contradict it--it's what we choose to prioritize, diminish or outright ignore. There is a time for everything under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). We need to put first things first and second things second. Much of Christianity focuses on salvation plans and doctrinal ideas.

A Reflection of Gratitude and Inclusion The alternative interpretation, of Eucharist as a Sacred Meal, takes all the meals which Jesus shared with

esus taught that lust is as bad as adultery. Covetousness is as bad as theft. Anger is as bad as murder. His was an "argumentum ad absurdum" against anybody claiming to be morally pure, which was a real social problem in Israel in his time. The wealthy, leisured Pharisees used countless fussy purity codes to bludgeon into submission the mass of common people who could not afford the time and money to comply.

I am sure you know that the United Church of Canada has subjected one of its ministers, Gretta Vosper to a hearing where she was thoroughly interrogated over what up until now has been the basis for 'essential agreement'. Not anymore! She is now in the process of being defrocked which means the UCC has now become a signing creedal church, with no expectation of growth since ordination vows. It also means from henceforth any ordained minister can be hauled before a similar court on the basic of one complaint, NOT EVEN from within the congregation, about what that minister said.

Life is full of these kinds of sacred signs, when we are open to them. They are like the sign posts pointing us down the paths of our dreams. They are like the nudges our loving mothers give us to move forward in spite of our fears. They are the reminders of what we already know but have mostly forgotten, like the dreams that fade when awakening. I know I am on the right path, when things easily fall into place and magical moments occur.

What are the big questions that religion answers? I know what you are thinking, this being St. Andrew’s, and St. Andrew’s being a good liberal Protestant church: “Bob, it’s not about answers but about living the questions.” We can say that, yet we do need answers. Questions are fine in church, but we live day-to-day by answers, no matter how tentative and incomplete they may have to be. Whether or not there are any definitive ones to be found, we’re all hunting for answers. One traditional formulation of the questions that various religions seek to answer is: Where did we come from? What happens to us when we die? How are we to live?

Surely, the time has come for local churches and national denominations to take a much more liberal and compassionate view and celebrate all healthy sexual relationships that have been developed between married or unmarried adult couples who are committed to living within loving monogamous relationships? Churches now need to go beyond the pretence of the turning of a blind eye to any long term supportive, loving unmarried co-habiting relationships and openly acknowledge that these are healthy relationships to be celebrated rather than to be condemned.

... evidence of reincarnation can help fulfill one of Christianity’s greatest doctrines, that we are indeed brothers and sisters, and that we should love one another as such. Religious teachings can contain great wisdom, but at the same time, religions separate and divide us. Wars are based on the perception that the enemy is different from ourselves, which allows us to justify killing. Evidence of reincarnation allows us to see that we are universal souls, which are not bound to any one religion, nationality or ethnic group.

Do I really want to go to heaven? The answer depends on what heaven is. If heaven is the eternal presence of God, then that would be awesome. But I do not believe that God resides in some celestial realm. God is in us, all around us, every day. So it is possible to be in God’s presence anytime, anywhere.