In this episode we talk about forgiveness with Rev. Dr. Matthew Ichihashi Potts, who is Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard Divinity School, an ordained episcopal priest serving as the minister at the Memorial Church at Harvard, a co-host of the podcast, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, and the author of the book we discuss on this episode, Forgiveness: An Alternative Account (published by Yale University Press). As Rev. Dr. Potts explains, accounts...
Continuing our series on Art and Culture, we are joined by Makoto Fujimura, who is the founder of the International Arts Movements and the Fujimura Institute and the author of Art and Faith: A Theology of Making (with Yale University Press). Over the course of our conversation we talk about the relationship of art to modernism, beauty and subjectivity, and the notion of abstract art. As we discuss art from a faith perspective, our discussion...
On today’s episode we begin the season of Lent with a discussion on ecological grief with our guest, Hannah Malcolm, who is PhD Candidate in Theology at Durham University studying ecological grief as a form of theological knowledge. She is also the editor of Words for a Dying World: Stories of Grief and Courage from the Global Church (SCM Press, 2020) containing essays, poems, and anecdotes related to our ecological crisis. Over the course of...
This past week, I had a few conversations with people who have recently lost loved ones or communities. Grief is always a difficult thing to talk about. The loss of a person who is dear to someone’s life or a loss of a community due to moving or other circumstances is so deeply painful. Our fast-paced modern-day culture often does not give space for grief as we can so easily distract ourselves from facing these...
Grief hurts. And it hurts for at least two reasons. There is on one hand the active pain of a particular loss. On the other, there is the God-problem: ‘How could God let this happen?’ I think C.S. Lewis gives us a great framework in his memoir, A Grief Observed. Three Views of God The occasion for Lewis’ reflections in A Grief Observed is the tragic death of his wife and his consequent grief. His reflections...
Last Tuesday, May 20th, we received the news of April Jace, a financial aid counselor at Biola, who was shot and killed by her husband, Michael Jace, an actor from The Shield. It happened on Monday night, and their two young children, under the ages of 10, were in the house. The shock and devastation of this tragedy has left our community with heavy hearts. Seeing the news footage of this situation is a strange...
This Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, as it is Ash Wednesday. As we enter into this season of Lent to prepare our hearts in reflection on the passion week of Christ and Easter, I think about the value of this season of lament that is found in the liturgical calendar. In recent years, I’ve come to really value this season of Lent as a space to lament and reflect on God’s presence with us in...
As Christmas quickly approaches, I don’t feel ready for the holiday season. While many people enjoy the holiday cheer and the magic of the Christmas season, I sometimes resonate with Charlie Brown in A Charlie Brown Christmas, not enjoying the Christmas season because the true Christmas story gets lost in the hustle and bustle of the season. He critiques the culture of materialism and consumerism around him as Snoopy tries to win the Christmas light...
“I am trading my sorrows, I am trading my shame I am laying them down for the joy of the Lord… I am trading my sickness, I am trading my pain, I am laying them down for the joy of the Lord!” “Yes Lord, Yes Lord…” And “Yes Lord…” ad nauseam. Most of us are familiar with the relatively popular worship chorus “Trading my Sorrows.” Its more likely to be blasting in the background of...
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