Hazelnut Notes is a blog site and a resource for information on the topics of contemplative activism, postmodern religion, and public theology. These topics are accessible via the links in the menu above.
Blog topics include individual spirituality, religious practice, progressive Christianity, the nexus of religion, science, and social science, public theology, etc. Specific blog categories are available here:
Blog categories:
- Anglicanism/Episcopal Church
- Book review
- Christianity
- Interfaith and ecumenicism
- Mormonism/LDS Church
- Postmodern religion
- Public theology
- RationalFaiths archives
- Religious practice
- Science and technology
- Scriptural commentary
- Social science
- Society and politics
- Uncategorized
Recent posts:
- Language and our perception of reality: reflections on the Whorf-Sapir hypothesisI recently finished The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains by Joseph LeDoux. This is another in the latest genre of "meta-history" books that integrate a variety of scientific fields and perspectives into a meta-explanation of something. In this case, LeDoux traces the story of biological evolution while … Read more
- Discernment of one's calling"As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work." (Colossians 1:10 MSG) I recently finished my first semester at Bexley-Seabury Seminary, taking a hefty course load of one single class: the "introduction to Church history" course. This is the course that gives a broad overview of the course of … Read more
- Neurophysiology, the multiverse, and spiritualityCAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD This weekend I read Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It's a science fiction thriller that uses quantum mechanics and the multiverse theory as its organizing plot device. In short, this theory posits that our current understanding of space-time and quantum mechanics requires that every time a quantum wave function collapses as its … Read more
- Speaking prophetically to one’s community; daily office commentary on Matthew 10:17-28."For most of my life I thought that speaking "prophetically" meant seeing the future or speaking in the role of a divinely authorized leader of a religious institution. In Jesus's context, though, prophets most often emerged not from the leadership of the institutional political or religious class, but rather from the people, and sometimes even … Read more
- On the theological paradox of ecclesiastical authority in the Episcopal Church"In the Episcopal Church, priests take vows to follow the counsel of their bishops and to live and teach the doctrines of the Church BUT are also called to help people live into the life and teachings of Jesus who was anything but deferential to institutional religious authority."
