All self-defined truths are not true. Much Evangelical commentary has been made against a culture where tolerance says all self-narratives should be treated respectfully… the Evangelical response is that this is an illogical and deceptive idea. Cultural “tolerance” for all narratives is too often, say these critics, equated with acceptance of all narratives as equally true — an idea which […]

In light of the very sad, but also predictable story about the death of snake-handling preacher Mark Wolford, I don’t really know what to say. Tonio K’s 1986 song “I Handle Snakes” comes to mind as a better answer than I can offer…. the line “It’s my life, it’s my religion” coming about as close as anyone will ever get. […]

My wife and I regularly talk about the Bible, current events, and how the two intersect. So while watching a program about natural disasters on the National Geographic Channel, my beloved turned to me and asked, “I wonder if there have been more earthquakes recently than there used to be.” Ha. Being a good (well, mediocre?) Bible student, I knew […]

“Consider, oh God, that we are without understanding of ourselves; that we do not know what we would have and set ourselves at an infinite distance from our desires.” – St. Teresa of Avila What do we want? Not, as is often done, asking this about a passing bodily appetite of one kind or another… but what do we want? […]

The 1993 100th Anniversary of the World Parliament of Religions… it would be, said friend and New Religions scholar Elliot Miller, a mix of everything from soup to nuts religiously speaking… The gathering place for thousands of worshipers of millions of gods. And it was right in my home town at the Palmer House in Chicago. I suggested meeting up […]