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The Jazz Theologian

I‘m currently working on a new writing project.  Here’s an excerpt:

“If I told you you were going with me tonight to hear someone who has practiced the trumpet for thirty years, what would you expect?  Your hopes would be high, and you would anticipate hearing someone whose skills were highly developed.  Perfection wouldn’t be the standard, but surely it would be reasonable to look forward…

“O God, I know that if I do not love You with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul and with all my strength, I shall love something else with all my heart and mind and soul and strength.   Grant that putting You first in all my lovings I may be…

In his latest book, Soong-Chan Rah wants to equip us for the multicultural revolution that’s knocking at the American church’s door.  Are we ready to trade our melting pots for jazz improv? Right now, the U.S. is experiencing the most dramatic demographic shift in its history.  By 2050, white Americans will no longer represent a…

I’m not much of a science fiction reader.  Recently, though, I saw an interview with Octavia Butler.  I’ve perused her books with titles such as, “Kindred,” “Parable of the Sower,” Parable of the Talents,” and “Wild Seed.”  Obviously, the Biblical allusions catch my eye as well as the some of story lines but I don’t…

I just started reading Philip Gulley’s new book, “If the Church Were Christian:  Rediscovering the Values of Jesus.”  I love provocative titles! I haven’t read enough to comment about the overall content but I am intrigued by his thesis: “…if the church claims Jesus as its founder, it should at lease share his values.  The…

Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Mt. 9.37-38) Is there ever a time when we say that Jesus has answered our prayers?  When do we say, “The harvest is plentiful and so are the workers?”…

This is the final installment of this series of posts on wrongful convictions (Part 1—Part 2-–Part 3) How and why do they keep happening?  What’s the “anatomy of a wrongful conviction?” H. Patrick Furman is a law professor at the University of Colorado School of Law. In a 2003 article for The Colorado Lawyer, he outlined…

President Obama is a classic case of faith in a post-modern world in which people belong before they believe rather than vice versa. (Click here to read my review of “The Faith of Barack Obama” by Stephen Mansfield that I did for UrbanFaith.com) When I pray for our President, I often ask God to use…
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