In the Christian tradition we have now entered the season of Advent, the time of waiting with great expectation for the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. 2 Peter 3:8-15a puts it this way: "...in accordance with [God's] promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish..."

The type of "waiting" described by the text above is not…

In 2 Peter 3:8-15a, Christians are reminded: "...in accordance with [God's] promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation."

God's patience in this text has to do with a desire to draw all people to repentance and faith.

Just because certain Christians "get it" does not mean…

First let me make something perfectly clear -- I love my denomination.

The United Methodist Church's theology is historically grounded in a movement attentive to the holistic character of human existence. Emphasis on social justice is not separate from personal piety,  nor corporate worship from individual devotion,…

A.k.a. "Why I will never join a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Church again"

Three…

Your Majesty, The Sultan Qaboos bin Said,

As a participant in the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme (CIP) Summer School, I thank you and the other generous donors for making this program possible. You have done so without fanfare, but I feel it is important for the whole world to know that Oman has chosen to support some of the most cutting edge interfaith work I have ever encountered.

The man from Norway responsible for the deaths of over 90 people, most of them young and on a…

This post was originally published on Huffington Post Religion.

This is my first trip to Europe. I've had the chance to rent a bike and tour around the beautiful English countryside that surrounds Madingly, a small town (there is only a few homes, a pub, town hall and a church) right outside of Cambridge, England.

One day when biking I pulled off on a "public…

"Are you a good Muslim or a bad Muslim?" asked a Christian parishioner to a visiting Muslim who was interested in learning more about Christianity. Although the parishioner tried to pass off this question as a joke, it has served for me as the paradigmatic question that reflects many Americans' suspicion and ignorance with regard not only to the Muslim faith, but to the diverse group of people who identify as Muslim.

The fact that this question could be asked OUT LOUD to a GUEST of a…

This post originally appeared on The Huffington Post Religion.

In a post this week, Taylor Burton-Edwards, Director of Worship Resources of the General Board of Discipleship -- a national…

In an earlier post, I offered a reflection on the types of inter-religious encounters that, although often well intentioned, tend to be reductive and ultimately unhelpful in the development of inter-religious dialogue. This does not mean I have given up on the such dialogue, on the contrary I believe it is one of the most important…

In a recent post on patheos, To Be Blessed: An Attitude, Pat Gohn describes her struggle with the the Beatitudes. She describes how early on these teachings from Jesus had little to do with her life. She states:

"Their…

By way of introduction, I share a story of my formation. In May of 2001 I began a six month trip to Central America. I wanted to learn Spanish and immerse myself in another culture.  I went to learn Liberation Theology and have a chance "be in solidarity with the poor".

For this six month adventure, I refused to be a part of any exchange program. The first two weeks of this trip was…

Virginia GraduateColloquium onTheology, Ethics, and Culture 

Universityof Virginia

April15-16, 2011

Well this is my fifth post on this inter-religious site, so I thought I might share some thoughts on the topic. I've intentionally kept my first four posts tradition-specific. I'm a United Methodist Christian and any inter-religious dialogue I enter begins there. So…

This past week the United Methodist Church got some good press... the Tea Party Nation's Judson Phillips demanded its closure.

The Huffington Post reports that Phillips demanded the closure of the United Methodist Church after he toured the United Methodist Building in Washington, DC. There he saw a sign in support of the…

My brother is a rock star.

He is seven years younger than I and is the second author on two scientific articles (one in Advance Materials and another one in Cell). In the first article, he made an important contribution by applying biology to nanotechnology. Through the second, he helped discover an important function of a gene that, when mutated, causes hypersusceptibility to tuberculosis infection by inflammation. This information could potentially affect how…