PloverWing

I believe that I am called to be a lay Christian in the academic world. This is my ministry and my vocation.

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I've been a Christian since early childhood, but my journey has taken me through several different kinds of Christian communities, and I owe a debt to each of them. The Baptists taught me about personal commitment and responsibility. The Assemblies of God taught me about worship. The Presbyterians showed me careful scholarship. The Lutherans taught me about liturgy. A Catholic student group taught me about contemplative prayer. The Quakers showed me what it looks like to live the Sermon on the Mount in your everyday life. Along the way, some atheist writers helped to sharpen my mind, and some Neo-orthodox writers helped me figure out how to be a Christian in the modern world. My current church home, the Episcopal church, gives me a place where I can combine worship, scholarship, social justice, and freedom of thought.

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Some books that have influenced my faith, listed approximately in chronological order in my life:

C. S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia
J. N. D. Kelly: Early Christian Doctrines
David Hume: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
G. K. Chesterton: Orthodoxy
Walter Rauschenbusch: A Theology for the Social Gospel
Gerard Manley Hopkins: (various poems)
Julian of Norwich: Showings (Revelations of Divine Love)
Rudolf Otto: The Idea of the Holy
Charles Williams: (multiple novels)
Gustav Aulén: Christus Victor
Anthony de Mello: Sadhana - A Way to God
Madeleine L'Engle: (multiple novels)
Dane Kuttler: The Social Justice Warrior's Guide to The High Holy Days
N. T. Wright: Simply Good News
Esau McCaulley: Reading While Black