How good are we without God? Apparently not as good. Several studies have shown that American liberals—namely, those most likely to have little or no God, are least likely to give to charity. Hurts, doesn’t it? Where’s the proof, you say? Robert Brooks, who recently wrote a book, Who Really Cares, about charitable donors discovered [...]
Archive for the ‘Theological Ethics’ Category
#22 How good are we without God?
Posted in Ethics, God, Religion, Theological Ethics, tagged charitable contributions, conservatives, liberals, tithing on May 12, 2009 | 6 Comments »
#18 God and the Devil duke it out in the john
Posted in Ethics, God, Philosophy of Religion, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged Devil, Hosea Ballou, Martin Luther, Toilet theology, William Ellery Channing on April 14, 2009 | 3 Comments »
WC. Water Closet. Privy. Crapper. Must stripped-down theology sink to the level of the toilet? But this is precisely where the ‘father’ of Protestant Christianity, Martin Luther (1483-1546), claimed he had been given his most important of realizations. Luther didn’t stop at the marketplace when talking about the presence of God (and the Devil). If God [...]
#17 Out with the old God, in with the new
Posted in God, Philosophy of Religion, Religion, Religious Philosophy, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged Arthur A. Cohen, Holocaust, Passover, Silence of God on April 6, 2009 | 2 Comments »
For Jews, Passover is supposed to be historically real. The Haggadah (the text that sets the order of the Passover meal) commands Jews to consider themselves to have gone forth in exodus from Egypt. The Haggadah emphasizes this absolute demand lest Jews be tempted to reduce it to the level of a metaphor. “The authority [...]
#16 Will there be anyone left to speak out?
Posted in Ethics, God, Philosophy of Religion, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged Easter, Lasantha Wickramatunga, Martin Niemoller on March 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »
According to the New Testament, Jesus entered Jerusalem without any illusion about what lay in store for him: arrest, torture and crucifixion. Prophesying and calling for reform have always been dangerous, but undeterred by the risks, Jesus headed to the temple with his controversial teachings. Was he afraid? In the gospel of Mark, the oldest [...]
#14 Rescued from the iron cage of guilt
Posted in Ethics, God, Philosophy of Religion, Religion, Religious Philosophy, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged Christ, conscience, guilt, Lent, salvation, sin on March 15, 2009 | 2 Comments »
If you don’t have an ear for the music of Christianity, it may be hard to make sense of why the Lenten days tracking the Gospels’ accounts of Jesus’ journey from freedom to arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection are so important to Christians. The answer partly lies in the doctrine that Christ liberates, or saves, human [...]
#13 Giving up Me-Centrism for Lent
Posted in Ethics, God, Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Religion, Religious Philosophy, Spiritual Exercises, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged Lent, Levinas, Me-Centrism on March 5, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Think you’re number one? Who doesn’t? Are you a narcissist? Hey, who isn’t? After all, our interior world is most vivid to ourselves. Who could possibly know and care for our well-being and happiness better than ourselves? A tidy amount of Me-Centrism is desirable (we Americans prefer to call it self-esteem), but in sloppy-sized doses, it turns [...]
#7 We fear not God, Who busts us not
Posted in God, Philosophy, Religion, Theological Ethics, Theology on January 26, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Oaths. This blog’s previous entry, “#6 So help me God“, described how, for a truly-honest person, oaths “give rise to no new duties.” For such persons, oaths “merely serve to awaken” the conscience. In some other world, truly-honest persons may exist. But let’s face it, that world is not our world. No perfectly, completely, [...]
#6 So help me God
Posted in God, Religion, Theological Ethics, Theology on January 18, 2009 | 5 Comments »
An apocryphal story has George Washington saying “So help me God” at the swearing-in ceremony of his Presidential Inauguration. While scholars debate the plausibility of this claim, what is known for sure is that many Americans today expect incoming Presidents to end their oath of office with those theological words. Yes, those words are theological–I’ll [...]
The Naked Theologian
is a Unitarian Universalist minister working on a Ph.D. in Theology
-
Top Posts
-
Recent Posts
-
Recent Comments
Categories
Posts by Category
- Ethics (11)
- God (48)
- Philosophy (5)
- Philosophy of Religion (22)
- Philosophy of Religions (7)
- Prayer (10)
- Religion (42)
- Religious Philosophy (19)
- Spiritual Exercises (8)
- Spirituality (11)
- Theological Ethics (18)
- Theology (44)
Archives
Twitter
- In Springfield IL today with #Arise (a worker's rights advocate) asking legislators to raise minimum wage from dismal $8.25. A no-brainier! 2 weeks ago
- Hierarchical decisionmaking structures involve domination but people can enjoy support for using their capacities & for voicing their views 2 weeks ago
- #IrisYoung: oppression entails domination. Oppressed people follow rules chosen for them. But domination does not always entail oppression! 2 weeks ago
- #IrisYoung identifies 5 faces of oppression: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. What to do? 2 weeks ago
- #IrisYoung: with globalization, group differentiations have not declined. People retain groups plus form new ones in processes of encounter. 2 weeks ago
