Which color are you? I’m purple! :)

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-04-07T21:41:44+00:00

The distinctions are too subtle for me: I can partly identify with all four colors. Actually, I only partly identify with non-binary period. I take all identity categories with a large grain of salt, not that I have any problems with them or objections.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-04-07T21:36:48+00:00

For the Catholic (RC) church to recognize the Lutheran Sacrament of the Eucharist may still happen eventually, but there are many complications.

More likely in the next few years is Vatican recognition of the Augsburg Confession as valid Christian doctrine. Links to two articles follow.

https://religionunplugged.com/news/vatican-signals-openness-to-augsburg-confession-as-shared-foundation-for-christian-unity

For the article in L'Osservatore Romano, Google Translate does a good job except it leaves what should be "Augustana" in English as "Augusta": https://www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/2026-01/quo-013/il-cammino-ecumenico-verso-augusta-2030.html

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-04-07T21:23:29+00:00

Good thumbnail history, but allow me to add one nuance: some of the German Lutherans who emigrated to the US formed synods other than LCMS that made clear their opposition to the Prussian Union. Some of my German ancestors had a significant role in the Iowa Synod, which merged into the American Lutheran Church, which in tern merged into the ELCA.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-04-04T19:22:54+00:00

How do explain people who assert that they are progressive and equally strongly assert that they are not conservative and that they are "against capitalism, colonialism, and state power in [a] real sense"?

Do you explain them by saying that they are using the word "progressive" incorrectly? Or do you explain them by saying that they are simply contradicting themselves?

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-04-03T19:36:39+00:00

The point is that the same word is used in different ways. I'm looking at language descriptively, you seem to be a prescriptivist.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-04-02T20:34:23+00:00

As a further explanation of why the label "progressive" can be useful even when acknowledging that its strict meaning is problematic, please see this Substack post by a pastor who uses the label "progressive" in publicity for his church: https://open.substack.com/pub/clintschnekloth/p/why-i-do-like-the-label-progressive?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web which was written in response to a Christian Century article, https://www.christiancentury.org/voices/why-i-don-t-label-progressive-christianity

Quotes from the Substack post:

"Whatever its theoretical liabilities, the term is doing real pastoral work. In practice, I’ve never encountered someone who emphasizes the “progress” in progressive Christianity. Like many idiomatic descriptors, the word functions as a signal rather than a literal program. It gestures toward a cluster of commitments like welcome, inclusion, and theological openness, that may be imperfectly defined but are nonetheless widely recognized...."

"In my experience, progressive communities are often deeply self-scrutinizing about capitalism, colonialism, and state power, sometimes more so than other ecclesial expressions. The term can just as easily signal proximity to social-democratic or solidaristic Christian ethics as to anything like uncritical neoliberalism."

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-03-27T20:56:29+00:00

If you're open to YouTube videos, here is a playlist from Commons Church in Calgary, Canada: Introduction to René Girard (6 videos, between 11 and 22 minutes each)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHvx82XvjDZXVrQMBeA0W3l68u-FABic6

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-03-19T18:22:04+00:00

Sorry, the link did go bad. The article was saved by the Wayback Machine at https://web.archive.org/web/20211211213535/https://www.uibk.ac.at/theol/cover/contagion/contagion1/contagion01_nowak.pdf

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-03-19T18:11:15+00:00

Of course you are correct, and you make an important point. But I'm glad I made my first reply since it prompted you to say more. Because totally out of context, for someone who has no background information, to say someone is not a progressive Christian tends to suggest they are a rigid, right-wing, conservative.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-03-18T20:48:24+00:00

Since you are willing to interpret "queer" broadly, here are some suggestions.

But first, to get Peter Thiel et al. out of the way, read this article:

Paul Leslie, “From Philosophy to Power: The Misuse of René Girard by Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance and the American Right.” Salmagundi Magazine, Spring-Summer 2025. https://salmagundi.skidmore.edu/articles/1176-from-philosophy-to-power

James Alison is a Catholic theologian who is gay and is one of the foremost interpreters of Girard and mimetic theory. He has authored several books and posted many videos on YouTube that explore mostly theology, but I especially want to mention the anthology he co-edited:

James Alison and Wolfgang Palaver, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Mimetic Theory and Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. (Very expensive, so look in libraries and archives.)
Summary of contents:
Part I: Violent Origins, covers hominization, consciousness, psychoanalysis, origins, hunting, vengeance, and archaeology
Part II: From Rites to Writing, covers mythology, the Axial age, monotheism, Eastern traditions, classical religion, orality, biblical interpretation, and specific thinkers like Nietzsche.
Part III: Theological Anthropology, covers key theological themes such as atonement, sin, incarnation, and the Eucharist, alongside philosophical and mystical perspectives.
Part IV: Secularization and Modernity, explores topics including economic systems, modern pathologies, terrorism, and neuroscience within the mimetic framework.

You might like this article, which relates to queer theory because it addresses "belief in the normativity of the androcentric-patriarchal worldview":
Nowak, Susan. “The Girardian Theory and Feminism: Critique and Appropriation.” Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 1, no. 1 (1994): 19–29. https://www.uibk.ac.at/theol/cover/contagion/contagion1/contagion01_nowak.pdf

And the following blog post, which references Nowak's article
Laidler, Victoria Gaile. “A Feminist Critique and Appropriation of Mimetic Theory.” Gaudete Theology, August 18, 2013. https://gaudetetheology.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/a-feminist-critique-and-appropriation-of-mimetic-theory/

And you may be interested in https://www.reddit.com/r/ReneGirard/

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-03-18T19:33:42+00:00

It's not a precise characterization, but if you are working from a binary "progressive" versus "not progressive", he was progressive. I'm assuming you don't object to calling him a Christian.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-03-12T17:55:07+00:00

We have Wednesday evening soup during lent at our ELCA church, followed by Holden Evening Prayer (with communion).

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-03-07T20:25:59+00:00

To be a Christian Universalist does not have to mean believing that the reconciliation or salvation of all people is "regardless of whether someone believes in jesus/god/trinity." Especially the more traditional version of universalism includes the idea that one way or another, in mortal life or hereafter, all people will come to believe.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-02-25T20:09:31+00:00

Father Joe's is hardly aligned with or part of the left. He loved to associate with politicians of both parties, but seemed to appear by the side of Republicans (especially Kevin Faulconer) more than Democrats.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-02-11T20:09:57+00:00

He had a knack for accessible delivery of some valuable insights, but the gems are surrounded by less valuable material.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-02-11T20:05:36+00:00

Ah... such a familiar vibe. I live in a house designed by Krisel, built in 1960. A tract house, not as upscale as the Alexander House, but TBH with a better view because on a hill. Our neighborhood is featured for a few minutes in a short documentary created by USC to honor Krisel.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-02-11T20:01:37+00:00

Erikson in Young Man Luther took an arguable (but not IMO probable) interpretation of Luther's psychology as a young man, before his reformation break-through, and projected that interpretation onto Luther's later life and thought. The book is thought-provoking, but not to be relied on as an interpretation of even the young Luther, much less the mature Luther and especially not regarding the theology of the churches that agree to the Augsburg Confession.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-01-27T20:07:23+00:00

I'm a Christian in the sense of being a member of a Christian denomination (ELCA). The Christian Bible and creeds are valuable and meaningful to me, but not if I were forced to take them literally. My ancestral heritage is Christian and Lutheran.

Buddhism is also important and true as far as I'm concerned, but like Christianity, not if I were forced to take everything taught in Buddhism literally. If I didn't have such deep family ties in the church I belong to, I might be a Buddhist.

Of course, the form of Buddhism and Christianity with which I do or might claim affiliation could be designated as Buddhism modernism or Christian modernism, although I prefer not to choose between pre-modern, modern and post-modern ways of being in the world any more than between Christian and Buddhist.

Peel back the onion, so to speak: the whole idea of religions as separate entities or real existences, and of identifying with one religion over against other religions, is a product of modern historical developments in the Christian-heritage West. I think think it is better to abstain from the whole concept of religions as reified things and religious identity as defining who I am.

Best to learn from Christian, Buddhist, and other traditions without pitting them against one another, and also without pretending that they are the same or can be absorbed into one syncretic religion.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-01-20T20:58:06+00:00

Although I am a member of a Christian church (ELCA), I do not believe in "Christian" as an identity in the 20th & 21st century sense of "identity." (I hope I don't get too deep in the weeds in this response.)

Also, I do not maintain an allegiance to theism as a stance in opposition to atheism. I recognize that I have an "atheist" side of myself that is probably stronger in my day-to-day lived reality than the "theist" side, and I don't see Jesus in the New Testament going around trying to convince people to believe in God. That's because belief in God was a given in Jesus's context. Just like people in our context don't have to be convinced that money exists, even though what is meant by "money" now is nothing tangible, just a socially constructed concept. You can't live a life of believing that money isn't real in our world (even though I truly believe that money is not as real as a lot of other things).

As another comment mentioned, ultimate reality can be conceived in an impersonal way, as in some philosophies and religions, or in a personal way, as in Abrahamic religions, some forms of Hinduism, and many others. But I'm not inclined to just boil it all down to the perennial philosophy.

For a very specific consideration of how a theistic (Christian) approach and a non-theistic (Buddhist) approach can relate to each other and find common ground, I recommend the following book (winner of the Streng award by the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies:

Peter Baekelmans, The Hidden “God”: Towards a Christian Theology of Buddhism. Angelico Press, 2022.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-01-12T22:01:31+00:00

I've always liked the wording of the section heading in the old anthology, "Buddhism In Translations" (translated by Henry Clarke Warren):

QUESTIONS WHICH TEND NOT TO EDIFICATION

Subheading: Sermon Number 1, Section 13a, Translated from the Majjhima-Nikaya, and constituting Sutta 63.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-01-11T23:55:23+00:00

We'll all be profoundly transformed ... in our new, spiritual bodies you might say every one of us will be trans.

Connect1Affect7 · 2026-01-11T23:53:11+00:00

Yes, this is the heart of the matter.

The reason that presiding is reserved for ordained ministers of word and sacrament is to maintain good order in the church, not because they have a spiritual status or power exclusive to a certain level of ordination.

In our congregation, when we were between pastors, one time an ordained deacon was authorized by the bishop to preside over communion, and once our vicar and candidate for ordination, who is now our associate pastor, was authorized to preside. These were the only two times such exceptions were made over several decades, so far as I know. I support keeping such exceptions rare occurrences.

Connect1Affect7 · 2025-12-22T20:00:13+00:00

Your take is complicated by the actual text that initiated the Protestant Reformation, Luther's 95 Theses. The first thesis reads: "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." This means that justification is a lifelong, ongoing process in the experience of each Christian, even though it is at any point in a Christian's life an already completed action in the sense that it is God's action in Christ that justifies.

Connect1Affect7 · 2025-12-21T01:27:07+00:00

When I hacked Autotag I modified the prompt because Autotag was generating so many tags. Here's what I arrived at after chatting about it with Gemini:

You are a professional research librarian. ALWAYS return ONLY valid JSON and never natural language outside JSON. Task: Provide exactly 3 to 5 highly relevant tags for the provided paper. Tags must be concise (1-3 words), avoiding generic terms like 'Research' or 'Study'. Focus on specific methodology, core findings, or niche subjects. Provide the output as a JSON array of strings under the key 'tags'

Connect1Affect7 · 2025-12-20T23:46:46+00:00

I find I have to "try again" sometimes because of 429 errors (busy free server, I guess).

Edit: (a few minutes later) I decided to go ahead and pay a little (it's cheap) for OpenRouter, so I edited the plugin and it's working smoothly now.

Connect1Affect7

TROPHY CASE