Prius Envy

by Jon Pahl

I succumbed to Prius envy. I’ve been tempted for a long time. But I wasn’t aware how tantalizing this auto-seduction had become until I drove the car home and stood staring at it, for minutes on end, sitting in my driveway. I wanted to bow down to it. It was like the proverbial golden calf of biblical lore. Except it’s red. And it’s a car.

To Till and to Keep

by Bishop Borsch

Burger boxes, chemical waste, pesticides, auto emissions, styrofoam, plastic forks, and on and on; mountains of garbage, smog and polluted air. When and where will it end? Or will it be our end? Every person who cares for others and for “this fragile earth, our island home” has to be concerned. But the problems can sometimes seem overwhelming and cause people to throw up their hands in frustration or apathy.

Torture and the Cross

by John F. Hoffmeyer

Debates about torture have been more prominent in the United States over the last several years than at any other time in recent decades. Most recently, the President vetoed a bill that would have held the CIA to the same interrogation standards as our military. The White House rejects the term “torture” as a description of the practices that it wishes to safeguard for the CIA, preferring euphemisms such as “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

”...And share with us in his eternal priesthood.”

by John Wm. Houghton

A few weeks ago, I showed one of my classes Jesus Christ Superstar. Like most versions of the show, this one was full of anachronisms, particularly in the costumes. The apostles wore, mostly, jeans and t-shirts, while the Romans were dressed in quasi-Nazi outfits. The Jewish priests were in various kinds of black robes, and Caiaphas had a big square necklace with ornaments dangling off the bottom of it.

Ecclesiology: Exploring Some Recent Models

by Kevin Moroney

The International Anglican Liturgical Consultation (IALC) is a gathering of Anglican liturgical scholars and specialists who, beginning in the 1980’s, perceived the need to meet and discuss matters of mutual concern for Anglican liturgical life. This article is concerned with two essays that were published in a collection titled Equipping the Saints: Ordination in Anglicanism Today [1], which are related to the IALC Berkeley Statement on Ordination.

A Review of In the Light of Christ

by Douglas Marshall

As I write this, we are about to put away the flotsam and jetsam of Christmas, 2007. The tree sits by the curb awaiting collection and the last of its needles have been vacuumed from the living room carpet. The process of forgetting about Christmas has begun and the Valentine’s Day cards are already in the stores. They will give way to cards for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and Mother’s Day. Great festivals of the Christian year take their places beside secular holidays on the card store shelves.

Piper City Christmas

by Bishop Borsch

My grandfather Houk was an undertaker. He lived in an Illinois farm town some forty miles south of Kankakee and ninety miles south of Chicago. The year my mother Pearl was born six hundred and fifty people lived in Piper City. Only a few more than six hundred and fifty live there now.

Any Question Whatever

by Pamela Cooper-White

At the Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia, we have an annual tradition, hearkening back to the Middle Ages, called a “Quodlibet.” The word literally means “whatever.” The entire community is invited to come together and pose any theological question whatever to that year’s “Quodlibetal professor.” The following week, the professor comes back and delivers an address in which answers to those questions are interwoven in a confession of faith. Last year, our wonderful colleague Fred Borsch was on the hot seat. This year, it was my turn—a daunting task!

A Theology of Evolution

by Bishop Borsch

“Any thoughts we may have about God after the life and work of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) can hardly remain the same as before.”

With these words John F. Haught, professor of theology at Georgetown University and director of the Georgetown Center for the Study of Sciences and Religion, introduces his book, God After Darwin: A Theology of Evolution.

Funny Faith

by Bishop Borsch

The blind see and the deaf hear. One-hour workers are paid the same as those who have toiled all day. The last are to be first while religious folk often teach one thing and do another in a kingdom whose Lord was crucified and where grace and goodness are full of surprises.