This article first appeared in the January 2024 edition of Scholar's Journey, the monthly newsletter of the Emerging Scholars Network. Not getting the newsletter? Click the "Join" button on this page. No dues, no required meetings--just lots of good resources for your scholarly journey! We often look at the new year as a time for a clean slate, a fresh start. Yet with many friends I talk with, 2024 has the feeling of an approaching storm, a time we find ourselves bracing for rough going. I suspect I needn't go into … [Read more...] about Resolutions For 2024
Science Corner: I Wanna Live Forever … ?
Apparently, the Santa Fe Institute had a workshop on immortality last fall. There's no evidence of a theological or religious or even much of a philosophical component to the proceedings. That's maybe a little surprising, seeing as how SFI tends to be expansively interdisciplinary. But there's plenty to discuss on the scientific side of things, so fair enough. I learned about it via Sean Carroll's podcast (see below). In this special holiday episode, he shares a version of his contribution to the workshop and comments … [Read more...] about Science Corner: I Wanna Live Forever … ?
Seeing: The Feast of Abundance
We conclude this series taking us through the weeks of Advent and Christmastide with the Feast of Epiphany (January 6). Bobby Gross helps us reflect the abundance of life on offer in Christ, celebrated by this feast. After savoring the Feast of the Nativity for twelve days (not without some bitter flavors—honoring Stephen, the first martyr on Dec 26, remembering the slaughtered Holy Innocents on Dec 28, perhaps with fresh laments for the children of Gaza and their wailing mothers, along with the cries of bereft … [Read more...] about Seeing: The Feast of Abundance
Rejoicing: The Taste of Abundance
In this post on the fourth Sunday of Advent Bobby Gross invites to open ourselves to this elusive thing called "joy" as we ponder the mystery of the incarnation alongside Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds who heard the angelic announcement. We started this series on Christ the King Sunday longing for leaders who reflect both the strength and the compassion of a Shepherd/King. As Advent began, we voiced our aching desires to see greater justice and shalom in our world. The next week we considered the active work of … [Read more...] about Rejoicing: The Taste of Abundance
Hoping: On the Way Home
Our Advent post for the Third Week of Advent focuses on hope, essential yet hard to describe, "a feathered thing" lifting us on our journey from exile to our ultimate home. Emily Dickenson famously described hope this way: Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard[i] Intangible. Elusive. Hope is hard to grasp and hard to hold onto. Sometimes singing, sometimes silent … [Read more...] about Hoping: On the Way Home