Can Misunderstanding Be a Good Thing?
The spiritual universe is full of oddities. This one is odder than many. It begins with a Bible passage but can apply to ideas well beyond. While reading the Bible the other day (part of [...]
Our Manifold Sins and Wickedness, Reconsidered
There’s this old prayer of confession in the Anglican/Episcopal tradition that feels, well, out of step with today’s world. In older versions, we “bewail our manifold sins and wickedness.” Even in today’s Book of Common [...]
Is Your Faith Life-Giving or Soul-Crushing?
Do you like some parts of your faith more than others? I’m betting most people would say yes. Some beliefs and practices just sit well with us, and some, well, don’t. Christians may cherish Jesus’ [...]
E-Course on Interfaith Dialogue & Spirituality
If you like the topics we discuss here, you'll probably love the announcement below. My colleagues in spirituality and dialogue, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality & Practice, have just announced an e-course led [...]
Hard Questions from the Dialogue Trenches: When the Other Side Is Wrong
I cherish the difficult questions that readers and listeners raise. Occasionally, though, a question goes from difficult to cringeworthy, and it takes me to places I don’t want to go. A listener to my New [...]
Rules and Rascals and the Dialogue Between Them
We all have our own “folk wisdom” about the way the world works. As we live out our lives, we observe things and create hypotheses from them. I suspect that most of this folk wisdom [...]
A Break from the Routine
Breaks are good, no matter how much we love what we do. With that as inspiration, I'll be taking some year-end vacation time, so this space will be on hiatus for the rest of 2009. [...]
Welcome…and a Bit More Introduction
Welcome to The Dialogue Venture. I'm so looking forward to hearing your insights on dialogue, sharing some of the things I've learned, and—I hope—build one more community in which people can talk with civility and [...]