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Moving Heaven and Hell

Regarding Heaven and Hell; Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for? – Robert Browning. An evangelical pastor of a mega-church, Rob Bell, creates a stir when he writes a little book, suggesting when it comes to a place called heaven, there’s room for everyone. What the hell?

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Official Statement from Occupy Wall Street

This statement was voted on and approved by the general assembly of protesters at Liberty Square: Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

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Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are

Ehrman’s Forged delivers a stunning explication of one of the most substantial yet least discussed problems confronting the world of biblical scholarship.

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Between Relativism and Fundamentalism: Religious Resources for a Middle Position

Our contemporary culture is dominated by two extremes — relativism and fundamentalism.

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Jesus the Voice and the Text: Beyond the Oral and the Written Gospel

Thatcher’s Jesus, The Voice, and the Text is a commentary on Werner Kelber’s milestone work, The Oral and the Written Gospel (1983). 

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Fred’s Summer Reading

I had the opportunity to do some extra reading this summer and I want to recommend three books that I found uniquely helpful and interesting.  Two of these are big picture kinds of books and the other is a more scholarly but still a relatively easy read and simply fascinating.  

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Is God a Christian?

The world has grown too small and the stakes for mankind have grown too high for any of us to engage our faithas if our understanding of God represents the only way God s presence may be known in the world.

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The Church of Earthalujah

The Christianized Jesus – the turning of a radical into a conservative shadow of his former self – explains our problem of establishing and celebrating freedom fighters today.

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Faith and Foolishness: When Religious Beliefs Become Dangerous

Religious leaders should be held accountable when their irrational ideas turn harmful

Religious leaders should be held accountable when their irrational ideas turn harmful.

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The Human Condition

I reject the virgin birth, sinless life, divinity, and physical resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  And that’s just a short list of the traditional Christian doctrines that I don’t buy into. There are a lot of open-minded, …

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Rising Up in Decline

After sixty years of unprecedented growth and development, nearly every meaningful social and economic indicator in the United States is shifting.

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Jesus and Lucifer on Social Justice

Thinking about Beck’s advice, I asked myself, WWJD, “What Would Jesus Do?” and immediately wondered WWLD, or “What Would Lucifer Do?”…what does the Lucifer Effect tell us about Christianity and social justice?

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Gay and the Absence of Chastity Hand in Hand for the Presbyterians?

After decades of debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Tuesday struck down a barrier to ordaining gays, ratifying a proposal that removes the celibacy requirement for unmarried clergy, in the latest mainline Protestant move toward accepting gay relationships.

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1978 Ecumenical Study Document on Abortion

a set of statements on abortion compiled in 1978 from various denomination authorities

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Myths Surrounding the Birth of Jesus

During the celebration of Christmas, familiar images are recalled in hymns and scripture about the birth of Jesus. In the popular mind, the appearance of herald angels, shepherds abiding in the fields, the star of Bethlehem, the virgin Mary giving birth in a stable, and the adoration of the Magi, have all been melded into one Christmas story. In reality, there are in the gospels, two distinct and at times contradictory stories of Jesus’ birth. A careful reading of the Bible itself reveals that so much about this celebrated birth is myth.

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The Tea Party: It’s Worse Than You Think

A debate has raged over the last 18 months as to whether the tea party movement is racist…I propose to put this debate to rest. The tea party is racist. Its followers have deployed a brilliant strategy to deflect charges of racism by using a form of the legislative provision known as…

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Correcting Jesus: 2000 Years of Changing The Story

In Correcting Jesus, Brian Griffith patiently and clearly untangles the many strands of the story of Christianity, and the many changes made over the centuries to the original story of Jesus and his message. For any reader who’s wondered, “Where did that rule come from?” and “Was it always this way?” Brian’s book is the one you’ve waited for. He’s always passionate but direct in his thesis that the original words of Jesus were meant as a basis for a society based on partnership and equity, not the one of domination and hierarchy they’re used so often to justify.

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Sound Mapping the New Testament

In the Hellenistic world, writings were read aloud, heard and remembered. But modern exegesis assumes a silent text. The disjuncture between ancient…

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