It is about that time in the academic calendar at my seminary where we are halfway through the semester and the influx of homework that always seem to accumulate around this time of the year. For many of my classmates, our mid-semester break lines up with Holy Week, perhaps one of the busiest times of year for any Christian pastor. Needless to say, perhaps, but, when we ask one another how we are doing, typical responses include chuckles, sighs over the amount of upcoming…

At one time people could have lived in relative isolation from one another, but even then, humankind across the earth was connected. Today, the Internet, mobile access, and social networking make our connections with one another not only more evident, but also more prevalent and on a greater magnitude.

One hundred years ago, a film like Innocence of Muslims,…

In my homiletics class, we have been reading various short stories to get an idea of different storytelling techniques to use in preaching. One such story was a first-person perspective monologue from Abraham, a figure who is prominent in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. All three religions can trace their origins back to Abraham, and in many ways, that makes Jews, Christians, and Muslims brothers and sisters in a very large family.

What struck me as I was reading this…

There seems to have been a lot of “not Catholic” labeling happening in the past few months. Earlier this month, Margaret Farley’s 2006 book Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics was criticized by The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Among its critiques of many of the issues Farley raised, including masturbation, homosexuality, and marriage, the CDF ultimately…