How can the clergy educate its members into contemporary theology and attract back the church alumni without alienating the aging conservatives that finance the local church?
read moreChristianity and Rabbinic Judaism were both catapulted from the Land of Israel in the first century. Even though they came out of the same soil, the Hebrew Bible (Tanach), they ended up a distance from the starting point in opposite directions.
This book is an attempt to restore the true Biblical Messianic faith described by the Tanach. Wearing deerstalker caps with pipes in hand we need to follow the evidence from the first century C.E. before the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem to about the middle of the second century. This investigation will require us to peer through the dust of Roman destruction to evaluate the often fragmentary details. We need to sort through the orthodox and less traditional interpretations of the facts to get closer to the truth.
read moreInterview with Robin Meyers: Do you have a message for progressive Christians?
read moreDo you have any reliable estimates of the number of Christians worldwide who do not subscribe to the viewpoint that “salvation comes only through Jesus Christ”?
read moreIf you were the moderator of the United Church of Canada with no restrictions… what would the church look like? What do you see as the perfect/ideal United Church of Canada?
read moreA recent Pew Research Center poll has reopened the old debate about faith vs works–the line of scrimmage of the Protestant Reformation. Whereas Martin Luther and the heirs of the Reformation have always held that it is through faith alone that salvation occurs, many Protestants and Catholics today have a blended view of the role faith and works–at least, according to this poll (“works” is defined differently by different denominations, but could refer to any effort on the part of humankind, whether it is doing good deeds or following any religious prescription that guarantees that God will act a certain way after we do it).
read moreAfter years of foot-dragging on issues that aren’t related to abortion or “religious liberty,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops took an unequivocal stance against racism this week when it created a new high-level committee to tackle the issue. “Recent events have exposed the extent to which the sin of racism continues to inflict our nation,” said USCCB President Cardinal Daniel DiNardo when he announced the new committee.
read moreThe Nicene Creed was both a religious and a political tool, a humanly constructed statement of belief that gave order and meaning to the world of its time. The question this book raises is whether it still gives order and meaning to our world–or rather, what kind of order and meaning does it give to our world.
read moreThis book presents the biological principle of emergence and applies it to culture shifting in congregations. The universe knows how to do life from the inside-out. By moving away from cultures of command and control to a more natural organic model, congregations discover the key to their power and the secret to sustained vitality.
read moreRobin Myers Interview – Do You Believe in God?
Robin R. Meyers is an American Christian minister, peace activist, philosophy professor and author of seven books on Progressive Christianity and Western society.
read moreWhat good is “God?” We know well how much violence is committed in the name of “God.” If we were to delete both our traditional Western word and notion of “god” from both our speech and thinking, what are the implications for such things we ourselves know and experience to be true in our own human experience? I’m talking about conceiving of such things as love, compassion, mercy, grace, reconciliation, forgiveness, even absolution, redemption, and salvation. Part one in this series considers a scripture text considered sacred, but noticeably absent is the presence of any deity.
read moreMost churches invite people to their church programs in their buildings, and with the space and time they don’t use, they rent to outside groups.
The people of Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church in Portland decided to turn that model on its head – and they created a vibrant community in the process.
read moreYet another change battle is under way in mainline Protestant churches: breaking the hold that Sunday worship has on staffing, budgeting, and overall priorities.
Below are four strategies for doing what needs to be done.
read moreShowcasing some of his most enduring and insightful writings, including many previously unpublished works, a concise and illuminating introduction to Marcus J. Borg, the late spokesman for progressive Christianity and one of the most revered and influential theologians of our time.
read moreBlake Osborne Interview: Progressive Christianity
These interviews were conducted by ProgressiveChristianity.org at a Westar meeting as part of a series on Christianity, spirituality, religion, church, God, Jesus, sacred community, social justice, youth, and social transformation. More to come soon!
read moreOur pluralistic world invites multifaith and multispiritual perspectives. But, for me in this moment, in my own week of observations of Good Friday to Easter, I plan on resisting. I will not bear this cross of a carbon economy willingly. I will resist the crosses that ravage the beauty of the earth until my dying breath.
read moreListen to ProgressiveChristianity.org’s Director Deshna Ubeda talk about their exciting Embrace Festival coming to Portland, OR May 4-6th, 2017.
read moreRobin Meyers, Unity vs Progressive Christianity
read more