A Theology of Reality Abp Lazar Puhalo
A theology of reality & the human condition
A theology of reality describes the human condition instead of creating dogmas about what we think it should be. It looks at the realities of the human condition to try to understand them in the light of understandings that have developed through medicine, through psychiatry and neurobiology, and shape our theology around the way humanity actually is instead of the way we fantasize it to be.
Without a theology of reality, we deprive people of their authenticity—of life—with some of our dogmas and doctrines. We need to accept the authenticity of human life and then shape our theology around that because otherwise, we end up excluding certain people and certain conditions from God's love… as if we ever had power over dispensing God's love ourselves.
A theology of reality also includes a theology of the world condition or situation.
We now live with a whole new set of realities—things we've learned are the realities of humanity. But much of our theology talks around the realities of human existence and the realities of social structures in the world. And we try to impose an almost fantasy idea about what society and culture should be and what humanity should be. But we don't talk about what humanity is.
read more…God’s Ways are Higher . . . as the One Lifted Up – Fr. Kenneth Tanner
You have, I am sure, run into persons that say, "God can do whatever he wants because he is God" as a defense for God behaving in ways that we would otherwise call sociopathic for humans.This is often partnered with an accusation: that human...
The Day the Wind Came by Jessica Cotten
The Day the Wind Came By Jessica Cotten And the room grew quiet and a gentle breeze wafted through, the kind of breeze that tosses a leaf across the pavement, It circled low at first but then wound its way up to brush itself against our faces. It started out...
Sunday of the Blind Man – Homily by Abp. Lazar Puhalo
Excerpts from Sunday of the Blind Man – Homily by Abp. Lazar Puhalo (See video for the full homily below) Some people are blind in spirit. They cannot see our Lord Jesus Christ. Or if they see him, they see him as an image of themselves, not of themselves as...
On White Privilege – Azariah France-Williams
You’ve been invited to take on a master at chess, they have trained, and have the skills, they’ve worked hard and earned their place. But so have you. You make your way to the table sit before them, looking them in the eye. The judge officially initiates the game. You...
Ward Draper and 5 and 2 Ministries: Interview with Sarah Fung
Ward Draper Introduction [Sarah Fung]: The 5 and 2 Ministries is a non-profit organization that focuses on relationships and meeting people where they are at. As a group, they conduct services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I had a chance...
Walter Petkau, “It Takes Raindrops to Fill a Lake” — Interview with Sarah Fung
Introduction [Sarah Fung]: “It takes raindrops to fill a lake.” (Mumbai woman) This quote is also an analogy we can apply to so much of life. It could be the small steps we take towards a large goal. It could be those small acts of love, that builds one’s partner up,...
Jordan Peterson vs. Zizek – Interview with Ron Dart with Paul VanderKlay
In Christ, Humanity Ascends to God – Kenneth Tanner
The Ascension changed everything, for the event discloses a great mystery: that to be God is, in essence, to be human, to be flesh and blood, because of Jesus Christ.A human is now forever God in the person of the Son, and what it means to be God is now forever tied...
Jordan Peterson and Transcending Tribalism – Ron Dart
Prof. Ron Dart, Department of Political Science, University of the Fraser Valley The culture wars (and the issues that so dominate both tribes) that have so divided the left from the right, liberals from the conservatives have meant minimally thoughtful thinkers find...
Walking Between Layers of Time — Return to Bethlehem — Mercy Aiken
If I’ve learned one thing living in Bethlehem, it is that someday the streets I walk down will be unearthed by archeologists. We are all walking in between layers of time, over the stories of those who’ve gone before us and beneath the stories of who will follow. In...
