One of the most famous dictums of the last five hundred years is Rene Descartes’  ”Cogito, ergo sum” – “I think, therefore I exist.”  Few know that this statement of faith arose from Descartes decision to doubt everything and see where he ended up.  From that point on western philosophy began a shift from studying [...]

It makes perfect sense, if you don’t think about it too much.  On Thursday, May 3, while many Americans will be wallowing in the superstitions of the past by praying to their god or gods, the clear-thinking rationalists among us will gather to recognize the National Day of Reason.  Attendees will gather “to celebrate Reason [...]

A couple of weeks ago PeacePastor (Rev. Marty Troyer) and I began a co-reflection on the issue of what the Christian life ought to look like.  He’s recently posted some further reflections on “lies” in the Christian Church, and these are my reflections on his comments. Most of theology is attempting to find appropriate language [...]

It will  be 15 years ago this summer that I immigrated to the United States, along with a number of colleagues in my engineering group.  One of my fellow “legal aliens” worked at the former Nassif Building over top of the L’Enfant Plaza metro station in Washington, DC, a station he passed through twice a [...]

It’s the Easter season, the fifty days in which Christians celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  The Acts of the Apostles, the “history book” of the New Testament, is remarkably consistent when it comes to conveying the core message of Christianity.  Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God promised by the prophets, who was [...]

One of the drawbacks of being a Christian in an Anglo-Saxon country is having to use the term “Easter.”  You can add that word, along with “trinity” and “hypostasis,” to the list of words that don’t appear in the original New Testament texts.  Much preferable is the Greek word “Pascha” – Passover – transliterated into [...]

Swiss theologian Karl Barth encouraged pastors to study the world with the Scriptures in one hand and a newspaper in the other.  He stood in a long line of Christians who have struggled to integrate the secular with the sacred, to come to terms with Jesus’ statement that his followers ought to be “in the [...]

The last few weeks saw a fevered discussion revolving around issues of church and state.  That debate was over whether the government had overstepped its bounds in enforcing what health insurance plans offered by church-affiliated institutions must offer.  Two new interesting cases on the same topic have come to my attention.  I find them particularly [...]

What exactly does a pastor do all week?

Richard Feynman, who won a Nobel prize for his work in subatomic physics, once quipped: “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.”  When it comes to understanding how the universe we live in functions, we humans have only now begun to scratch the surface.  Can I explain why this is so [...]