Tag Archives: participation
Life as Participation: Weekly Summary
Life as Participation Saturday, September 11, 2021 Week Thirty-Six Summary and Practice Sunday, September 5—Friday, September 10, 2021 Sunday After transformation, God is not out there and we don’t look at reality. We look from reality. We’re in the middle of it now; we’re a part of it. This whole thing is a mystery of… Continue Reading Life as Participation: Weekly Summary
Participation Is the Only Way
Life as Participation Participation Is the Only Way Friday, September 10, 2021 Some of the most exciting and fruitful thought in recent theology can be described as the “turn toward participation.” [1] Religion as participation is a rediscovery of the Perennial Tradition that so many saints and mystics have spoken of in their own ways. It… Continue Reading Participation Is the Only Way
Participatory Morality
Life as Participation Participatory Morality Thursday, September 9, 2021 Jesus’ message of “full and final participation” was periodically enjoyed and taught by many unknown saints and mystics. It must be admitted, though, that the vast majority of Christians made Christianity into a set of morals and rituals instead of an all-embracing mysticism of the present moment.… Continue Reading Participatory Morality
Collective Responsibility
Life as Participation Collective Responsibility Wednesday, September 8, 2021 In my talks on Paul, I tried to show how Paul teaches that we are both saints and sinners on a corporate level—and at the same time. Our holiness lies in participating in the wholeness of the Body of Christ. As I said in my Great… Continue Reading Collective Responsibility
Participating in Love
Life as Participation Participating in Love Tuesday, September 7, 2021 I want to share again from the series of talks I gave years ago on the Great Themes of Paul: Life as Participation: For Paul, love is clearly the word by which he describes this participatory life. It’s what he calls the greatest of the… Continue Reading Participating in Love
Participating in Original Goodness
Life as Participation Participating in Original Goodness Monday, September 6, 2021 Everyone and every thing is created in the “image of God.” This is the objective connection or “divine DNA” given by God equally to all creatures at the moment of their conception. The philosopher Owen Barfield (1898–1997) called this phenomenon “original participation.” [1] We… Continue Reading Participating in Original Goodness
Being Instruments of God
Life as Participation Being Instruments of God Sunday, September 5, 2021 Almost twenty years ago, I gave a series of talks called Great Themes of Paul: Life as Participation, which I still think is one of the most important sets I ever made. Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3–6) was dramatic and… Continue Reading Being Instruments of God
Receiving Images
Finding God in the Arts Receiving Images Thursday, August 19, 2021 Artist and author Christine Valters Paintner explores how we might reconsider traditional approaches to photography. Instead of “taking” pictures, she asks us to “receive” images similar to how we might welcome the presence of God in contemplation. Contemplative practice is a receptive practice. We… Continue Reading Receiving Images
No Domination in God
Good and Bad Power No Domination in God Friday, August 13, 2021 Jesus seems to recognize that it’s either a world of domination or it’s a world of love. To understand Jesus’ paradigm of love, though, we must first understand the Trinity in whose image God says “Let us create” (Genesis 1:26)! The Trinitarian God… Continue Reading No Domination in God
The Devastation of Grief
Everybody Grieves The Devastation of Grief Monday, August 2, 2021 In the Hebrew Scriptures, we find Job moving through Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s well-known stages of grief and dying: denial, anger, bargaining, resignation, and acceptance. The first seven days of Job’s time on the “dung heap” of pain are spent in silence, the immediate response matching the… Continue Reading The Devastation of Grief