There are obvious reasons why fear, guilt and shame have a bad reputation inside and outside the Church. There is really no need to illustrate this point, but… Fear of judgment, rejection or punishment can be crippling. Guilt that is exaggerated, overly-negative or simply mistaken is paralyzing. Shame, too, when it is insulting, degrading and… Continue reading good fear, guilt and shame
Tag: fear
grace and human effort
At the heart of the Christian faith is a conviction that salvation is God’s doing. God takes the initiative in establishing, maintaining and perfecting the relationship with all of creation, and humans in particular. Without God, there would be no salvation. Period. This conviction has tended to be accompanied by an emphasis that downplays the… Continue reading grace and human effort
love is grateful
I recently came across this gem of a quote on Facebook; beautiful in its profundity, and breathtaking in its brevity. “Grace is the essence of theology; gratitude is the essence of ethics.” – G. C. Berkouwer It captures the heart of what any Christian thinker has ever tried to say about the fitting human response… Continue reading love is grateful
moral fear
Ethical discourse, I suggest, is degraded and corrupted by fear. I’m not talking about the healthy protective fear that flows from love, but rather the unhelpful power-grasping fear that is its own source. Below I’ll suggest two equal-opposite examples of this power-grasping fear, and then I’ll offer a suggestion about a third, ‘middle’ way. On… Continue reading moral fear
the uncomfortable freedom of Grace
I just finished a job at work, and not only did it take longer than I thought (I had to return to the job site to fix things), I didn’t do as good a job at it as I would have liked to. The clients are satisfied and will pay the invoice, but the workmanship… Continue reading the uncomfortable freedom of Grace
hegemony, homosexuality & homophobia
(Leftovers from a great and long chat with a good man today.) Almost 100 years ago, Antonio Gramsci proposed the idea of “cultural hegemony” where a powerful idea or culture carries immense and controlling force. One key indicator that a hegemony is at work is when dissenting voices are kept silent out of fear. A conservative… Continue reading hegemony, homosexuality & homophobia
when any enemy will do
The really sad thing about blaming “religion” for all hostility and violence to gay people is that it leaves the real causes (i.e. fear and insecurity) unexposed, and the hostility and violence continues…