Christian Blogs You Should Be Reading

Progressive Christian Blog, hosted by the Rev. Mark Sandlin

Next week, I'll be hosting a blog series entitled "Submit One To Another: Christ and the Household Codes." The series will be similar to our Mutuality Week from 2012, but will focus specifically on those frequently-cited passages of Scripture that instruct wives to submit to their husbands, slaves to submit to their masters, children to submit to their parents, and Christians to submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21-6:9, Colossians 3:12-4:6; 1 Peter 2:11-3:22).

I sat across a table from a man I can tell you almost nothing about. He's an undercover investigator working with The Exodus Road, and I was truly impressed by him. I don't want to get all gushy, so I'll only say that he was a total effing badass.

Aka The Sarcastic Lutheran, Nadia Bolz-Weber's sermons, essays, and blog posts don't pull punches but are full of grace and grit. Some of the most profound and thought-provoking stuff on the Web can be found here. She is also the pastor of House for all Sinners and Saints and author of a new memoir, Pastrix.

Trying God's Patience Since 1958.

I was a pretty terrible friend to someone I love very much recently. When I was finally called out for it, I was immediately defensive and an argument ensued while my husband sneaked around carefully closing the windows lest the neighbours hear me peeling the paint off the walls with my screeching.

Morgan speaks from a distinctly radical view of the Church that calls all traditions to repentance by his battle cry; mercy not sacrifice.

A collection of thoughts from a feisty introvert (by Maggie Johnson)

The goal of Red Letter Christians is simple: To take Jesus seriously by endeavoring to live out His radical, counter-cultural teachings as set forth in Scripture, and especially embracing the lifestyle prescribed in the Sermon on the Mount. Ironically, it was a secular Jewish country-and-western disc jockey in Nashville, Tennessee who first suggested that title.

Micah pretty much threads the needle between prophetic provocation and poetic beauty. Which is nearly impossible. Read this blog.

Violence, death, and division have become normative. We are becoming numb to the very things that we - as ambassadors of hope and reconciliation - are to turn from as Resurrection People. It is as though there is a stranglehold on our on our ability to see and participate in the stories of healing and new life.

The American Jesus is a satirical take on how we in America tend to remake Jesus in our own image. It is dedicated to all the silly, absurd, serious, crazy, depressing, hopeful, tragic, and strange things that make up the peculiar phenomenon of American Christianity.

What do Parshandatha, Harnepher, Mattithiah, and Romamti-Ezer have in common? They are all in the Bible, which means they are also in The Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary released just a few weeks ago, and that I helped edit. The general editor is my long-time buddy Tremper Longman III (Westmont College)-perhaps best known for having Philadelphia Eagles season tickets [Read More...]

Theology isn't science; it's art.

Jayson consistently speaks with grace and truth on a range of subjects. This blog deserves much more publicity!

Scholar. Heretic. Board Game Snob. My love of Judaism started in the fourth grade when my teacher had to create a separate curriculum for me, as I was “that” kid growing up with a love of reading that surpassed my grade level, and she developed my course around her own Jewish heritage. Also, I’m a Christian, which has led many an adviser to say something to the effect of “but you’ll never get hired to teach Jewish history as a Christian!” And I always stubbornly replied, “I don’t care if I get a damn job. I love Hebrew, Torah, and Hot Pastrami on Rye.”

Here is a letter I got in response to the call I put out on my blog awhile back asking for the personal testimony of gay Christians: I am a 72-year-old Christian mother and grandmother. I had a wonderful career as a teacher for every age, from pre-school through college.

Equipping grassroots theologians for creative thinking, engaging, and living.

This blog has been instrumental in forming my theology and daily living of the Gospel as a follower of Jesus. I look forward to each and every post.
Benjamin L. Corey is a two-time graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with Master's degrees in Theology and Missions. Currently he is a Doctor of Missiology student at Fuller Theological Seminary. Besides writing for Formerly Fundie, he has also written for Sojourners and appeared on Huffington Post Life as a religious commentator. In his own words, "This blog doesn’t aim to unnecessarily critique or criticize popular versions of American Christianity, but rather is a quest to authentically and transparently explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus in this time, and this place. I have been deeply wounded at times by aspects of American Christianity, but not Jesus- and this blog is my way of sorting all of that out."

Tales of Christ and Culture from several dozen Christian writers with various backgrounds. New stories every day.

Below are 2013 statistics comparing the incarceration rates of nations worldwide. How many nations incarcerate more of its population (per 100,000) than the United States of America? Zero. The US is the world leader in jailing it citizens, incarcerating more of its people than any other nation in the world.

Mark Twain said, "Write what you know." So, since I'm neck-deep in a book project, I'm going to start writing about that process on Mondays. My next major book, on the atonement, is coming out in February...2015. That's right, 2015. Seems like a longs way off, doesn't it?

Buy now from these online retailers: The real Mary was an unwed, pregnant teenage girl in first century Palestine. She was a woman of courage, humility, spirit, and resolve, and her response to the angel Gabriel shifted the tectonic plates of history.

So I swallowed my objections, repressed my doubts, and headed to Algebra. But deep down, I was no longer certain… about God.

Is God seeking certainty?
- See more at: http://reknew.org/2013/08/secret-doubt/#sthash.hbI9Jjni.dpuf

Jonathan Martin is the lead pastor of Renovatus: A Church for People Under Renovation in Charlotte, NC. He has been married to Amanda Keen for 11 years, and still finds her delightfully mysterious. Jonathan is an avid collector of comic books and is unashamed of his ten-pound shih tzu Cybil, despite the stigma that comes from being a very large man with a very small dog.

Alise tackles tough issues of faith and culture with a profound amount of grace.