When several hundred Lutherans in Bavaria, Germany, attended a service on June 9, 2023, designed by ChatGPT, the program not only selected hymns and prayers, but also composed and delivered a sermon, delivered by an avatar on a big screen. Indeed, programs like ChatGPT, that can produce a sermon in seconds, might seem attractive to Read more
Immortality has become the great question mark. The answer used to be provided at Easter, with the Christian climax in death by crucifixion, followed by resurrection. The Jesus story wrestled with death not being merely death. Today, however, the sacred meaning of Easter is little more than a dusty relic. For the secular modern age, Read more
Mexico’s Presidential candidate has spoken about religion in his campaign. “The time has come to present a proposal based on the aim that when we obtain the presidency, we must not only seek to achieve material well-being, we must also seek well-being for the soul,” Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says. The favourite to win July’s Read more
It’s hard to find your soulmate in someone who doesn’t believe you have a soul. Recently on The Moth Radio Hour a young woman shared the story of her breakup with her boyfriend, a young man for whom she had deep feelings. The problem was that she, a person with a deep faith, a Mormon, struggled with Read more
I am going through a personal crisis. I used to love reading. I am writing this blog in my office, surrounded by 27 tall bookcases laden with 5,000 books. Over the years I have read them, marked them up, and recorded the annotations in a computer database for potential references in my writing. To a Read more
When we are young, much of life experience seems unplanned and random. Our dear little hearts are torn by both love and disappointment, one as painful as the other, and without warning, days open up under our feet, hurtling us into some new happening. We sometimes feel out of control and don’t know where God Read more
For more than 50 years of her life, “Mother Teresa was wrapped in a dark, pitiless silence”, according the soon-to-be-saint’s biographer, David Scott. After hearing the “call within a call”, Teresa only heard the voice of God once more before her death. She experienced what St John of the Cross described as the “dark night Read more
Job did. Jesus did, too. Sooner or later, we all do.Life pushes us to the brink and we’re left hanging over the cliff with one hand grasping a clump of grass and looking down at the abyss. Despair clutches our throat and what’s left of our heart cries out to a silent God. Our only Read more