Author Archives: Greg

Selections from Athanasius, Festal Letter 4

For Monday of Lent Week 1 2 It is well, my beloved, to proceed from feast to feast; again festal meetings, again holy vigils arouse our minds, and compel our intellect to keep vigil unto contemplation of good things. Let us not fulfil these days like those that mourn, but, by enjoying spiritual food, letContinue reading “Selections from Athanasius, Festal Letter 4”

Selections from Athanasius, Festal Letter 2

For Thursday after Ash Wednesday 1 Again, my brethren, is Easter come and gladness; again the Lord has brought us to this season; so that when, according to custom, we have been nourished with His words, we may duly keep the feast. Let us celebrate it then, even heavenly joy, with those saints who formerlyContinue reading “Selections from Athanasius, Festal Letter 2”

Selections from Athanasius, Festal Letter 1

For Ash Wednesday 1 Come, my beloved, the season calls us to keep the feast. Again, “the Sun of Righteousness,” causing His divine beams to rise upon us, proclaims beforehand the time of the feast, in which, obeying Him, we ought to celebrate it, lest when the time has passed by, gladness likewise may passContinue reading “Selections from Athanasius, Festal Letter 1”

Toward Lent: Historical Observations

After a lifetime of being typically Restorationist about the liturgical calendar, this year I am observing Lent and following the readings of the Revised Common Lectionary (you can subscribe to a useful calendar here). If you come from a background like mine, in which such practices are foreign, you may wonder what this is allContinue reading “Toward Lent: Historical Observations”

On Narrative Inquiry: A Reading Review

[I wrote this reading review for a doctoral seminar on Methods for Observing and Interpreting Culture.] What understandings of human narrativity underlie narrative inquiry in the social sciences? This is, broadly, the question with which I began this directed reading. In the following reading review, I will expand on the research context of this questionContinue reading “On Narrative Inquiry: A Reading Review”

Theological Education and Identity Politics: On Listening Carefully

This post is just a sketch of a major issue that looms in the background of my doctoral studies. As the landscape of twenty-first century theological education is rearranged by seismic cultural forces, one of the major shakeups is precipitated by the larger conflict about identity politics in American culture. In this context, I believeContinue reading “Theological Education and Identity Politics: On Listening Carefully”

What the Intellectual Dark Web understands and churches need to consider

A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. (Acts 20:9) What is the Intellectual Dark Web (I.D.W.), you ask? It’s the silly, tongue-in-cheek nameContinue reading “What the Intellectual Dark Web understands and churches need to consider”

On Women in Church Leadership: 1 Tim 2:8–15

I began writing publicly about women in church leadership in 2014, while my family was still in Peru. I was applying to doctoral programs with the intention of studying biblical interpretation, and I was thinking a lot about the role of the biblical text in my tradition (Churches of Christ). Megan and I were alsoContinue reading “On Women in Church Leadership: 1 Tim 2:8–15”