Category Archives: Theology

January 17, 2012 · 12:10 am

The Wedding in Cana, Water into Wine: The Gospel According to John, Chapter 2

(This is written as an early Lenten exploration, as described in an earlier post – I encourage you to comment!)

The Wedding at Cana

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Continue reading →

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January 16, 2012 · 11:50 pm

Write a Commentary for Lent

I have begun a new project, one that is so far above me that it embarrasses be to mention it. I would not, except I have found that when I don’t confess my plan, I am likely to shrink back. When I don’t make my thoughts public, I am free to make them sloppy. So I am writing my own commentary on “The Gospel According to John”
Continue reading →

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November 19, 2011 · 10:34 pm

Is the Bible the “Word of God” or is it a human book?

I had a thought last week during a Bible study class on Deuteronomy.  The leader of the group is a thoroughly “Bible-Believing” Christian. He is highly educated, with advanced degrees in Biblical scholarship, and is thus immersed in current academic understandings of the authorship of the ancient texts of the Hebrew scriptures.

 This presented a challenge, and something of a threat, to some members of the group, who understood the Torah as being of Mosaic authorship, and any move away from that as a move away from Divine inspiration.

 Now, I have no dog in that fight. But the ideas expressed had a familiar ring to them. Continue reading →

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November 19, 2011 · 8:12 pm

Singing in Harmony: an objection to Deitrich Bonhoeffer (or what I learned from the music ministry of Church of the Redeemer)

 “ ‘Sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord’ (Eph. 5:19). …

‘Because it is bound wholly to the Word, the singing of the congregation, especially of the family congregation, is essentially singing in unison. Here words and music combine in a unique way. The soaring tone of unison singing finds its sole and essential support in the words that are sung and therefore does not need the musical support of other voices. …

‘Unison singing, difficult as it is, is less of a musical than a spiritual matter. Only where everybody in the group is disposed to an attitude of worship and discipleship can unison singing, even though it may lack much musically, give us the joy which is peculiar to it alone.’ ”

from Life Together, The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It is only with the greatest trepidation that I would dare to dissent from such a saint as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but this section of “Life Together” has bothered me since I first read it over thirty years ago. The ideas have nagged at me as I have seen changes in congregational singing between parishes, and even in the way congregational music is published. My renewed time and extended visitation among the folk of Houston’s Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal) has both confirmed and solidified my objections.  It is time I gave them voice. Continue reading →

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August 21, 2011 · 2:20 pm

Thoughts on Marriage (or, “An Exercise in Hubris”)

A friend of mine wrote a brief blog post on a subject I have been ruminating on for a few years, the purpose of marriage. His post compels me to write. I dare not say this is exactly in opposition to him, for he writes with several advantages over me:

  1. First of all, he has actually been successful, while I am twice married and twice divorced. The fact that both of my marriages and divorces were to and from the same woman may tell for or against me; I will leave that alone.
  2. He is demonstrably smarter than I am.
  3. He is a priest (Anglican/Episcopalian, hence #1 above) and has actually studied more than a little on these subjects. Mine was Psychology and Computer Technology, and much longer ago
  4. His post is full of biblical references,which he uses accurately.
  5. And most difficult for me, he is right.

Facing all these issues, how could I possibly resist the urge to stick in my own oar?

Continue reading →

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April 14, 2011 · 4:11 pm

A premature thought on “Divinity of Doubt”

Well, I’m about to do that which should (almost) never be done- I’m going to issue an opinion on a book I have never read. That book is Vincent Bugliosi’s “Divinity of Doubt.” Continue reading →

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February 28, 2011 · 4:24 pm

On the closing of The Church of the Redeemer

“My place in Redeemer & vice versa, ”compare and contrast “ with life in general and personal history, with particular emphasis on the themes of plans and expectation (see subtext “Judas”)…”

OK, yesterday eve (well, late afternoon!) when I finally got to bed after staying up like I was half my age, I couldn’t write what I wanted. But I was too full to properly resist, so I at least assigned a theme for myself, noted above. Upon reading my “assignment,” today, I am dismayed, and thankful on behalf of my non-existent class, that I do not teach High School English, nor do I assign term papers.

I have been dodging this topic all morning, and my available time is near an end. Some would say I have been dodging this topic for 20 years, maybe 25. Time to get to it… Continue reading →

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February 16, 2011 · 9:12 pm

And now…, the other shoe.

I’ve got to take care of a little unwelcome personal business.

As you may have picked up through these scattered threads lying about here are a number that try to make some connection between the themes of Christianity,  of Christian theology, and the way the world seems to actually work in observation. Sometimes, as in “Simul Justes et Peccator” that connection is revealed by failure. Failure to act in accordance with what one knows to be true involves, if not a willful blindness, a willful “dimming of the eye,” a choosing not to see, a choosing to not know what one knows. Continue reading →

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December 17, 2010 · 10:25 pm

From a Voice of Christmas Past

As my life has taken on many changes, I have found myself talking with other people whose experience of this Christmas is less than idyllic. No Hallmark Card photographs here.
In those conversations, I have thought about a piece I wrote for a Christian coffeehouse back in 1984, and the advanced age of 29.

There are some cultural references that some may not catch today, and there are some things I would like to edit, or re-write entirely, but I think not. Because at the distance of 26 years, I am not speaking to you; the “Eric” of 1984 is now speaking to me as well. I think editing would be presumptuous of me! Continue reading →

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October 2, 2010 · 8:10 pm

Simul justes et peccator (and how it relates to me and my marriage)

One of my “soap-box” points, on which I am continually harping, is the importance of the pastoral implications and applicability of doctrine, and of theology. If there is a particular point about the nature of God and of our relationship with Him that is intellectually stimulating and recreationally pleasing to fondle, but has no true impact on my life, then I think that is a pretty fair description of what it means to “take the Lord’s name in vane” (No, it doesn’t mean saying “OMG!” as tiresome as that is). Continue reading →

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