People often ask me if I believe in God, and my honest answer is always: ‘It depends what you understand by the word “God”’. This word probably means something different for every person who professes such a belief, which is why there is such a thing as ‘orthodoxy’ in a church (let alone ‘dogma’): it […]
faith
Posted inGeneral
Are you an agnostic?
What is agnosticism? Broadly speaking, it is the position that claims that human beings cannot ‘know’ whether God (or gods) exists or not. We simply do not have the means to have such knowledge. I put ‘know’ in scare quotes because that is where an agnostic puts the emphasis. The ancient Greek word, ‘gnosis’, means […]
Posted inGeneral
Reimagining dialogue
I used to love going to church. Growing up in a traditional black Methodist Church meant that for each service I knew what to expect. People would arrive 15 minutes before church began, wait in the pews silently or sing a few hymns while we waited for the choir to usher in the preacher for […]
Posted inGeneral
Why people are such inherently conflicted beings
While preparing for a seminar on the roots of contemporary theory among the ancient Greeks, the Hellenistic Romans and early Christian thinkers, I was struck by the way that the different, and divergent, strands of the cultural legacy of the West (as well as of other cultures globally which share some of these roots) explain […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
The church has more money than God
In a world where many are continuing to tighten their belts and complain of the “financial pinch” there are some entities that seem to remain on the gravy train. Among the usual culprits one entity stands tall, a constant that no one questions or suspects. The church. It’s easy to speak of how big business […]