CCBlogs thinking critically, living faithfully

Kelvin Wright's Blog

Kelvin Wright is an Anglican priest in New Zealand. He is fighting a very hard illness. You can read a bit about it in his "About me" section. That struggle has caused him to think about what we might mean by a theology of healing.

Today I got to the point in Ian Gawler's book where I am on quite familiar territory: the bit where he explains his theology of healing. It's a theory I know well in various guises, a theory that crops up time and again in various Eastern and/or esoteric philosophies. He says that we have seven bodies, only one of which, the physical body, is accessible to the senses. The other six - the emotional, intellectual, intuitional, spiritual and astral bodies - are of varying degrees of subtlety and while some people can "see" some of them they are invisible to most of us. Illness happens when the energies of two or more of the bodies are conflicted and healing occurs when coherence is restored between them. I'm not sure what I believe about this theory: I'm probably too steeped in my Western world view to embrace it fully but it's disconcerting that some practices based on this idea, such as acupuncture, seem to have real, measurable effectiveness, as does Ian Gawler's method of healing cancer....

Some of our CCbloggers have written about Marcus Borg in the past.

Drew Smith of has written an article on Marcus Borg for the Society of Biblical Literature. He tells us what happened the semester he put Marcus Borg on his student's reading list.

Bob Cornwall reviewed Borg's book "First Christmas."

As an introduction to the conversation I recorded with Marcus Borg, let me briefly introduce his thinking and explain why he is such a controversial figure, certainly among conservative evangelical Christians, but for many mainline theologians as well. I'm doing this for the benefit of non-clergy who may read this and not know Marcus Borg.

A recording of the conversation is available at the bottom of this post.

It all has to do with how you read the gospels. Most Christians in the world read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as literal accounts of what happened in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

We have five new bloggers in our network. If you get a chance, stop by and welcome them.

Work in Progress, by Ruth Everhart, who is a Presbyterian minister.

AnnMarie Kneebone is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Chicago.

Where Everyone's Crazy is Simon Cozen's blog. He is a WEC International missionary in Japan.

The Honest Shepherd, by Darren Cushman Wood, a United Methodist pastor in Indianapolis.

Lovely and All We Have, by Rebecca Warren. Rebecca is a writer and works in student life at King's University College in Edmonton.

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New CCblogger Kelvin Wright of New Zealand, facing a rather serious health crisis with serious repercussions, writes a piece reflecting on testosterone and the Church.

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Milton Brasher-Cunningham, our resident chef and blogger, has invented a new Spanish word with Jorge, the man who washes dishes at his restaurant.

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Scot McKnight wonders if we should pronounce the name of God, or, like Jewish people, let the Tetragrammaton remain unspoken.

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Another of our new bloggers, Warren Hicks, remembers Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179).

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Greg Garrett writes a very personal and grace-full reflection on grief in the light of an intense personal grief. His young son will be moving to the other side the country.

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And finally, John Hamilton continues his interesting Baptist foray into the world of Rosaries. Now he's making his own.

.....................Gordon Atkinson

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CCblogger Frank Moyer was a young Lutheran in Germany during World War II. He shares with us a very intimate time of self-reflection when he asks, "Did my parents know?" He also laments the language and sentiments behind it when people refer to the clash between liberal and conservative politics as culture wars.

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Tom Johnson writes in Theolog about his previous church which needed him so badly. He grieves being at a larger, more professionally run church that doesn't need people as much.

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Paul Soupiset writes once again about his curious fascination with very tiny houses.

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Cristopher Robinson is back after a long blogging hiatus. He is very open and honest about what made it hard for him to write.

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Nancy Fitz tells a very tender story about an encounter between two generations of women. "How far will you go to make someone comfortable," is the question she asks.

..............Happy Reading, Gordon Atkinson

I've taken some enjoyable time over the last few days to read the latest offerings from our network of bloggers. There are 55 of us currently, and the amount of material we produce is almost more than one person can sort through. As usual, I found a number of things that both intrigue and inform me, things that challenge me and make me proud to be blogging with you.

Gordon (Real Live Preacher)

Larry Vaughan is one of my favorite bloggers. His writing is always beautiful and thoughtful. His latest piece is called "What do you do?" He's quite funny in the beginning (I love the line about Vlad the Impaler). Then Larry comes up with a new describer for his own vocation. One that really makes me think.

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Bishop Will Willimon has returned from a meeting of bishops holding conversations about the war in Iraq.

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Milton Brasher-Cunningham, our resident chef, tells a touching story about the night one of the chefs fed the kitchen staff. It's called "He gave us wings."

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Minister, guitarist, and rock aficionado James Lumsden writes about genre-bending music, Portishead, the Clash, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, and Psalm 85. All in one essay.

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Pastor Bob Cornwall asks conservative Christians who are supporting Sarah Palin if they plan to offer similar opportunities to women in their own churches.

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Scot McKnight engages in a little shop talk with fellow ministers. Should you use notes from the pulpit or not? What are the pros and cons?

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Professor Drew Smith asks if Jesus was really serious when he called us to love our enemies. And if so, what does that mean for us? Follow-up piece is here.

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Julie Clawson, layperson (though she might dispute the validity of that term) and new mother, writes about what it means to claim fellowship with the movement some call Emergent or Emerging Christianity.

We're adding a number of new blogs to our network. Here are a few of them. More will be coming online over the next week or so.

Mark Hogg of Edge Outreach, an organization that does trains and equips people to address water issues in our world, has launched a new blog called I Thirst.

Frank Moyer's blog The Seed Time.

Fred Anderson's blog The Rev's Rumbles.

Terri Pilarsky's blog Seeking Authentic Voice.

Kelvin Wright's blog Available Light.

Warren Hicks' blog Breaking Fast on the Beach.