This month is Asian Heritage Month, being observed by the Canada and the United Church of Canada. This Sunday was specifically devoted to Asian Heritage, and I thought I’d share some of my reflections on this day. I will note that I am a white, cisgender, heterosexual male in Ontario, Canada coming from a middleContinue reading “Tai Chi and Christianity: A Personal Reflection In Honour of Asian Heritage Month”
Category Archives: Faith and Spirituality
Masculine Pronouns For God: Why We’ve Got It Wrong And Why Jesus Is Worth A Closer Look
Before I became Christian in university, one of the biggest things that bothered me was that God and Jesus were always presented as explicitly male–even C. S. Lewis, who often has a more nuanced understanding as a lay person falls into this trap using some very culturally specific logic to portray God as inherently masculine.Continue reading “Masculine Pronouns For God: Why We’ve Got It Wrong And Why Jesus Is Worth A Closer Look”
Advent and Christmas: What We Get Wrong and Why It’s Important To Tell It Right
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Christian new year in a variety of Christian traditions. The season of Advent marks the beginning of the Christian year and leads up to the birth of Christ celebrated on December 25. Every year, sermons are preached, songs are sung and pageants are performed celebrating and re-telling the storyContinue reading “Advent and Christmas: What We Get Wrong and Why It’s Important To Tell It Right”
On Turning The Other Cheek: Wink’s Interpretation
One of the most famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) teachings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount is the encouragement that when one is struck on the cheek, the thing to do is to turn the other cheek also. There have been many interpretations of this over the years. TheContinue reading “On Turning The Other Cheek: Wink’s Interpretation”
On Jar Jar Binks, Neurodivergence, and The Value of A Nuisance
I recently read The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy: You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned, and was struck by near-universal hatred of the character of Jar Jar Binks. This is far from a new phenomenon in Star Wars fandom–the character was despised from his initial debut in Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.Continue reading “On Jar Jar Binks, Neurodivergence, and The Value of A Nuisance”
Gnosticism vs. The Canon: A Comparison
I’ve been doing a lot of reading on a diverse number of topics during this pandemic and I found this little gem, the other day: A New New Testament: A Bible for the Twenty-first Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts edited by Hal Taussig. I’ve long wanted to read the Gnostic Gospels to see whyContinue reading “Gnosticism vs. The Canon: A Comparison”
The Danger Of Full Solar Spirituality
I’ve been doing some reading of late, and I’m seeing a number of convergent messages. Recently, Mary Trump, the niece of Donald Trump, published her memoir Too Much and Not Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man that was revealing of the family structures in the immediate Trump family that shaped DonaldContinue reading “The Danger Of Full Solar Spirituality”
On Highs and Lows
The counselor looked me in the eye with great understanding as she said that I would probably have ups and downs, like a rollercoaster, for the rest of my life. There would be times I would be depressed, and there were times I wouldn’t, but they’d alternate throughout my life. This was 10 years agoContinue reading “On Highs and Lows”
Read, Watch, Listen: BIPOC Resources
Read All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks Disarm, Defund, Dismantle: Police Abolition in Canada edited by Shiri Pasternak, Kevin Walby, and Abby Stadnyk Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Stringer How to be Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi Invisible: Theology and the Experience of Asian American WomenContinue reading “Read, Watch, Listen: BIPOC Resources”
On The Stockdale Paradox
I have a confession to make: I am finding it hard to find balance in my life these days, especially when living with my parents and having so many different demands on my time pulling me in too many directions. This morning, the reality is sinking in that I’m heading back down to Guelph inContinue reading “On The Stockdale Paradox”