Posted in Progressive Christianity on Jun 20th, 2011 No Comments »
When we speak of the New Religious Mode we mean a new mode of thinking from which to critique religion and within which to create religion anew. The New Religious Mode is a secular event unfolding since the 19th century. Its essence is the dawning of the end of the two-story religious metaphor and the […]
Posted in Progressive Christianity on Nov 15th, 2010 1 Comment »
When the disciples of Jesus asked for help with prayer, Jesus, so the tradition goes, gave them a model prayer. Simone Weil claimed that this familiar set of six petitions includes everything that any true prayer includes.
(“. . . we cannot conceive of any prayer not already contained within it.” – from the last paragraph of […]
Posted in Progressive Christianity on Feb 21st, 2010 No Comments »
Gene Marshall, November 2010
Witnessing love may be the most important skill for organizing and anchoring a vital circle of Resurgent Christian nurture and mission. Witnessing love can be defined as being a “means of grace” to one another in our Circle and to other persons with whom we make contact.
“Grace,” as this word is used […]
Posted in Progressive Christianity on Feb 14th, 2010 No Comments »
A sketch of the Christian story by Gene Marshall, November 2010
Jesus did not establish a religion; he was and remained a Jew for his whole life. We know this from the earliest New Testament writings. For Jesus there was no New Testament, no Christian religious practice, and no intimation that there ever […]
Posted in Progressive Christianity on Feb 23rd, 2008 No Comments »
A dialogue by Gene Marshall with John Shelby Spong’s essay
Tribal Religion: Recasting the Christian Message for Century 21
I have recently read the presentation/essay by John Shelby Spong on Tribal Religion. I count it as one of the best essay’s I have read by Spong. I agree entirely with Spong’s critique of what he means […]
Posted in Progressive Christianity on Dec 2nd, 2007 4 Comments »
Here is my greeting for the season: May the Dark Nights of Advent prepare you and yours in becoming fertile soil for that tiny candlelight of Christmas that can become a fire upon the Earth.
We seldom celebrate Advent anymore. Only a few of us light some purple candles and remember that the four […]
Posted in Progressive Christianity on Oct 28th, 2007 3 Comments »
Progressive Christians are achieving great clarity about the historical development of the Bible and about viewing biblical passages in a metaphorical rather than a literal way. Using the word “God,” however, continues to be an area of unclarity and outright confusion.
It is, I believe, helpful to begin with H. Richard Niebuhr’s insight that the […]