Category: Uncategorized

Breathing Deep

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Dear Reader,

I have a few guiding principles when I do “public theology” (i.e. when I write for non-academics). The two most relevant for this post are:

  1. I will avoid controversy for its own sake; I will not make my career by being mean to people.
  2. I will not avoid controversy out of fear or personal inconvenience; after listening to others, my church, and my conscience, I will (respectfully) speak my mind.

I am willing to take grief from others for what I say. I am less willing for others to take grief because of me. It recently came to my attention that that has happened. Continue reading “Breathing Deep”

My Year as a Pro-Gay “Orthodox” Heretic

 

 

By Bilerico Project (California Marriage Equality – San Francisco)

When people call you a blasphemer, Christ-denier, a defender of tyranny, and an apologist for Babel, who cares more about impressing liberal academics than listening to the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church, the best response is almost always silence. My general practice is to avoid confrontations with anyone who believes him/herself capable of knowing me in 1500 words or less. But, for Fr. Johannes Jacobse and some of his readers, I am going to make an exception. Fr. Jacobse is involved with a call-in radio show I will appear on this Sunday (June 17). Even though his article did not speak for the show or its station, I thought it might be wise to offer potential listeners/callers a short “intellectual memoir” of my involvement in the gay marriage debate over the past year. I do not intend to change anyone’s mind. I only hope that offering a little insight into my intentions and motives might help us have a more substantive conversation – one focused more on the issues than speculations about my character. Continue reading “My Year as a Pro-Gay “Orthodox” Heretic”

What’s Wrong with Christian Politics

 

Warning, the following post contains an image that may trouble some readers. If it doesn’t, then there’s something wrong with you.

This video captures pretty much everything that is wrong with Christian politics today. The hammer of the blacksmith pounds out important issues, issues that are surely on the mind of the woman marching toward the voting both (in a very small polling station): jobs, taxes, and energy (gas prices?). But then, with about as much subtlety as a California forest fire, the blacksmith urges us to commit those concerns to the flames. For Catholics (the target audience of this video), and by extension all Christians, this election is about three things: gay marriage, abortion, and “freedom.” Continue reading “What’s Wrong with Christian Politics”

Matrimony and Miracles: My Second Marriage to my First Wife

In 2008, I surprised my wife by marrying her…again.

I have known Stephanie since 1993. We began dating when I was 14 and were married five years later. Any decent gambler knows you don’t bet on that kind of marriage lasting, but somehow we beat the odds to become a more or less happy statistical anomaly.
Continue reading “Matrimony and Miracles: My Second Marriage to my First Wife”