Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
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Kyle Roberts (Ph.D.) is Schilling Professor of Public Theology and the Church and Economic Life at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Find Kyle Roberts’ reflections on public and missional concerns.
Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
3y ago
Someone just asked me for a recommendation for a book that would facilitate their deep-dive into the Christmas story and would meet them where they are in their faith journey – which includes deconstructing some of their inherited traditionalist theological assumptions. I suggested The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Birth, by ..read more
Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
3y ago
Sallie McFague, in her classic book, Models of God, offers a thought-provoking suggestion for the task of theology in each age. The task, the challenge, she says, is to find new metaphors, new concepts, for doing theology even while we use the Scripture as the basis for doing so. In fact, the Scriptures themselves offer ..read more
Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
3y ago
A new book, How Millenneials Can Lead Us Out of the Mess We’re In: A Jew, a Muslim, and a Christian Share Leadership Lessons From the Life of Moses, by Mordecai Schreiber, Iqbal Unus, and Ian Case Punnett explores leadership through an interfaith conversation about a shared ancient religious narrative for our current situation. Here’s the ..read more
Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
4y ago
There is an excellent and concise overview of the historical foundations of and development of white supremacy in the book, Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God, by Kelly Brown Douglas. The opening chapter lays out the history of the “Anglo-Saxon myth” as it took shape in the founding of America. The ..read more
Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
4y ago
Here is a statement (originally published here) from my seminary, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, in response to the death of George Floyd by police brutality: __ The United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is outraged and grieved at the death of yet another unarmed Black person while being detained by the ..read more
Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
4y ago
Yesterday, Trump declared churches and houses of worship to be “essential” and called on governors to lift restrictions on religious gatherings–threatening to override those restrictions if they weren’t lifted. In my home state, Minnesota, , Gov. Walz announced this afternoon that in-person religious services can resume on May 17, with restrictions and in accordance with ..read more
Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
4y ago
“The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity—activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man.” Ernest Becker wrote these words in his Pulitzer Prize ..read more
Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
4y ago
During the worship service I viewed this morning, a pastor referred to God as a mother, praying to “mother God.” This was a beautiful expression and, of course, timely on Mother’s Day. Another pastor read from Isaiah 49, noting that the text compares God to a mother nursing her child. Mother’s Day is a perfect ..read more
Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
4y ago
This pandemic has exposed a lot of things, one of which is a division in society between those who take science seriously, and those who don’t. Trump’s recent suggestion that Americans might be saved from the Coronavirus with an injection of disinfectant was both ludicrous and dangerous, but it yet again exposed the breach–this time ..read more
Patheos | Unsystematic Theology
4y ago
Tom Petty sang it well: “The waiting is the hardest part.” Today is Good Friday. In Christian liturgy, it’s the day we reflect on the death of Jesus. Throughout the globe and here in the U.S. so many who have lost loved ones to the ravages of coronavirus mourn. Christians reflect on their deaths ..read more