On the spiritual search One of the burning questions that led me to study theology was, what is the source or ground of ethics? Now, Jesus was, among other things, an unparalleled teacher of ethics, but what happens to those Christians whose search moves beyond the original naivete that tells them that ethics is simply […]
The most striking feature of the universe is…the fact that we are here to ask questions about it at all. [i] INTRODUCTION What is a human being? What is distinctive about us, that makes us humans and not something else? One’s answer probably tells as much about one’s own perspective as it does about the […]
Study Guide for the play “Eli’s Gift” The play “Eli’s Gift” is a fictionalized story based very closely on the death of Jesse Gelsinger in 1999 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Human Gene Therapy. All of the public events in the play mirror those of Gelsinger’s death and its aftermath; some of the […]
In this thesis, I use language which specifically addresses an audience to which I belong, which I am disposed to name as us – the prosperous, the satisfied, those in power, we in the United States who live above the poverty line. For reasons that I hope will be clear, it is fitting to couch my […]
There is no easy way for science to authentically engage cultural and religious reports of encounter in dreams, to the extent that a communication is believed or known to be occurring between the dreamer and a larger encompassing reality. But there are reasons to go beyond neurological explanation of the functioning of the dream state, […]
A political uprising erupts in response to injustice, corruption, poverty and suffering. A democracy is overturned in the name of a more authentic democracy. The instigators put forward powerful ethical arguments to justify their action against the state. At the same time, they employ both indigenous identity and the threat of military force to ensure […]
This essay critiques John Locke’s ideal construction of human beings in the “State of Nature” of perfect freedom, which provides the theoretical starting point for his Second Treatise of Government. Locke’s vision of atomistic individuals in a “State of Nature,” each a law unto himself, is not intended to be “real” – he does not […]
The goal of this paper is to consider the ground of ethics in light of contemporary biological science and the implications of that science for how theology might frame the emergence of ethical humanity. Can ethics be conceived as entirely biologically based? Or does any ethics require a metaphysical basis? Do new understandings of the […]
INTRODUCTION In some way, eschatology – the vision of an end to this world, and the ushering in by God of a new one, the kingdom of heaven – is essential to Christianity. Lutheran theologian Ted Peters reflects the common understanding when he says “we cannot explicate the gospel without thinking eschatologically.” [i] Yet some […]
– Let me tell you about the weirdest experience I had the other day. I was mountain biking in Marin with my brother. We were in this very beautiful place. Near the end of the day, we’re coming through these pastures, horse country, and we stop by this little stream. I’m sitting there and I’m […]
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