In his book  Tortured Wonders , Rodney Clapp suggests that Christianity as popularly practiced (and preached, I would add) is often too dualistic and “spiritual” to help us actually detangle earthiness from worldliness. To the overly pietistic everything is worldly, including embodiedness. The reason this is problematic is it sprouts a mealy kind of Christian Gnosticism that chokes out the good news—good news for all people , as the Christmas angel put it.  Paul uses a very... Read More

Let us now praise infamous men. This summer I met an Anglican pastor from Canada. He wears a clerical collar when out and about. On the streets of his city strangers tell his children not to get into the car with him. The clerical collar identifies him as a man of the church, and men of the church are pedophiles. These are days when nuance is lost on cause célèbre narratives. To adapt Yeats, fix upon men and women wearing markers of authority that accusing eye. My Anglican friend in Canada... Read More