The ‘Winnowed’ and ‘Gathered’ Community: Reading John 11:45-53 in Light of Mimetic Theory

This paper was presented at the College Theology Society Annual Meeting at Iona College on June 4 2011 in the section Spirituality: Contemporary Conversations with Classic Texts. On my first visit to the Holy Land, I often found myself wanting to linger over sites after the tour guide moved on. One time, after the guide […]

Frames of Violence in Israel-Palestine

Several years ago, I traveled to Jerusalem with a group of Messianic Jews to attend their annual conference. The Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations holds conferences for its members each year in different locations and this year they were meeting in the Holy Land. Although I was starting to call myself a Messianic Jew (or, […]

Ember Letter: Lent 2011

Dear Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno, I trust that your Lenten season is off to a good and wholesome start and that this Ember letter will find you well. It is a cool and balmy night here in the Berkeley hills and the only noises I heard on my evening walk were the scurrying of […]

Epiphany: Augustine the Hippo

It may be a fool’s errand to try to summarize the most influential Christian thinker (after St. Paul) in a brief blog post, but I will attempt to do so nonetheless. Perhaps Simeon the Holy Fool will intervene on my behalf and help me. I actually just learned that Simeon the Holy Fool is the […]

Epiphany: Perpetua

I just read a brief article about Jared Loughner, the troubled 22-year-old who recently murdered 6 innocent bystanders in Tucson Arizona (including a 9-year-old girl). He had struggled with an addiction to hallucinogenic drugs; he had asserted dangerous political views and he believed that the end of the world was near. I read about Jared […]

Epiphany: Apophthegmata Patrum

After his parents died, 18-year-old Anthony heard Matthew 19:21 read in church and felt called to take literally Christ’s command to sell all his possessions and give to the poor. After selling all of his property and inheritance, he fled to the Egyptian desert to do battle with the demons who presumably lived there. He […]

Epiphany: Antony

On my way to a U2 concert in Las Vegas last fall, about an hour before entering the Mojave Desert, I drove by a sign for the St. Antony Monastery in Newberry Springs, CA. Because I was seeing U2 that night, I did not have time to stop by for a visit. And I […]

She Who Is Sophia

Two friends of mine (whom I actually introduced to one another) just gave birth to an adorable baby girl named Sofia. She’s even more beautiful than her beautiful name (which is saying a lot). As I was reflecting on her name, I remembered a book summary that I wrote seven years ago (!) on Elizabeth […]

Epiphany: St. Ambrose

A few years ago, I visited Genoa, Italy. If I had driven two hours north to Milan and then traveled about 1600 years into the past, I would have been under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of a honey-tongued anti-Arian preacher named Ambrose. The oldest of the four Latin Fathers,[1] this bishop played an enormous role in […]

Christmas with Chödrön XII

Chödrön: “We all have the inborn wisdom to create a wholesome, uplifted existence for ourselves and others. We can think beyond our little cocoon and try to help this troubled world. Not only will our friends and family benefit, but even our ‘enemies’ will reap the blessings of peace…If these teachings make sense to us, […]