One way I thought to greet this new year was to reread my journal entries over 2022. That would show where and what my struggles had been, what I learned, what the highs and lows were and what the delivered message to me has been. Like people all round the…

Of all the forms of worship I know about, Biblical religion is the one most wedded to chronology. It carries the message that the action called for cannot be postponed. It must be done now. …

Years ago, I was in the audience to hear a lecture by Columbia Professor of Ancient History Morton A. Smith who was discussing a verse he claimed to have discovered, anciently deleted from the gospel of Mark. …

Albert Camus and the Minister By Howard Mumma It’s an arresting fact that both Albert Camus (1913–1960) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) — French existentialists who may have done most to spread the banner news that God is dead — ended by trying to reckon with the possibility of a God…

As Jerry and I recover from our everything-that-could-go-wrong-did-go-wrong air travel experience, I’ve been taking this week to assimilate the intensely interesting experiences at the Theology Without Walls meetings in Denver. My reflections nestled around three questions: What did the TWW meetings (which explored a subfield within the American Academy of…

We’ve just returned from the Denver meetings of the American Academy of Religion — more specifically the subfield that Jerry founded: Theology Without Walls. It was founded in recognition of the current, unprecedented openness of communication in our world. It crosses borders and is almost instantly global. It’s a situation…

Abbie is unable to write a new column this week because she and her husband, Jerry Martin, are stuck in Denver, CO, where a succession of flights home have been canceled. She and Jerry were in Denver for a fascinating “Theology Without Walls” conference. TWW is a growing subfield (founded…

The incredulity I’m talking about doesn’t concern entities like the Loch Ness monster. If that creature could be caught, dragged ashore, and the body sent to an appropriate laboratory that later issued a report detailing the evidence for its reality, our Loch Ness skeptic could become a believer with no…

Lately I’ve been reading a lovely little book by Owen Gingerich, Harvard Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and History of Science. It’s titled God’s Universe, and — as you can guess — its aim is to make clear that faith and science, rightly understood, need not be enemies. On the basis…