Category Archives: Theology

What Pope Francis said

Posted on August 3, 2013 by hessd

How shall we understand the new pope, Pope Francis? “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis told reporters, speaking in Italian but using the English word “gay.” … Continue reading →

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It’s Providential. And That’s the Bad News.

Posted on February 17, 2013 by hessd

“What luck!” says the woman with the secular vocabulary.  “No,” says the man whose mouth is full of theology, “It’s providential.”  Does that exchange make any sense at all? Yes and No, I would say, if asked.  (On a blog, … Continue reading →

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What We Know About God

Posted on December 30, 2012 by hessd

On Christmas, the New York Times published this op-ed piece by Maureen Dowd.  It is, in fact, a reflection by Father Kevin O’Neil.  Dowd asked him if he could write something that reflected his faith and his practice in the … Continue reading →

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Hark, the Herald Angels Sang (in traditional barbershop harmonies)

Posted on December 15, 2012 by hessd

You don’t have to read much of Tanya Luhrmann to feel like a fan.  Today’s editorial in the New York Times ought to be enough.  If this tickles your appetite and you like more academic prose, which she also does … Continue reading →

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Inside Accounts and Outside Accounts

Posted on May 19, 2012 by hessd

It strikes me now as odd that when I saw the title—Systematic Theology: A Historicist Perspective—on the shelf as I pushed the dust mop by it during my first year of doctoral study, the word that really caught my attention … Continue reading →

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The Good Samaritan

Posted on April 13, 2012 by hessd

I come from a religious culture in which the value of the questions to be asked is assumed and the Bible is taken to be the source of the answer.  I haven’t lived in that culture for a long time, … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Studies, Theology, ways of knowing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Does God Love Unconditionally?

Posted on November 3, 2011 by hessd

The theological argument I have heard that Christians ought to be unconditionally loving is that God is unconditionally loving.  I’m not sure that’s true.  And if it is true, I think we wouldn’t be able to tell. Today, I am … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Studies, Theology | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Do We Know Enough to Love?

Posted on October 31, 2011 by hessd

So…is unconditional love a good thing?  Is it possible?  It seems to me that the answers to both questions are going to have to be No, but the exploration of the context of this answer, these answers, will be meandering.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Love and Marriage, Political Psychology, Theology | Tagged | Leave a comment

moneyball

Posted on October 3, 2011 by hessd

It is hard to give up the old ways.  I am not going to do it casually.  You will have to give me a really good reason to change my ways and then I probably still won’t do it.  I … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Movies, Theology, ways of knowing | 5 Comments

Owning Less

Posted on July 21, 2011 by hessd

I own a lot of books and I own different ones for different reasons.  I’m going to have to get rid of nearly all of them soon and I find myself stumbling over how different those reasons are from each … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Studies, Getting Old, Theology | Leave a comment