Kevin's Theogrimage

This is a series of blogposts that reflect on some of the topics in the forthcoming book  A Curious Faith: Love, Loss and Living. You can find  Part 1   here. --- Early on in the year, I watched  The Walk  (2015) , a movie that tells the story of a French, high-wire artist who had the courage to walk the immense void between the two towers of the World Trade Center in the mid-70's. The plot development amid the thematic ploy of motivation in the face of doubt and obstacles was top notch notwithstanding. My father once used the illustration of the high-wire artist to impress a lesson on trusting God - He said that many times we know that God is all-good and all-loving and that he will grant us victory in the tough seasons and experiences we go through, but trusting God is similar to climbing on the back of the tight-rope walker as he struts forward in order to accomplish his fete.  I especially remember God's directing of me to head ...

Friend or Foe? It is often said that the experiences we go through give us a lens with which to view and interpret our reality in the world. In my case, especially after the death of my brother, I have been thinking more frequently about death and life and their mystery. In line with this, I was led to an essay by Esther Acolatse, professor of pastoral theology at Duke Divinity School. Her central idea is that  death strikes both as a familiar friend and a dreaded foe, hence creating ambivalent feelings in us . [1]   In her thinking through this ambivalence, she provides a framework for understanding this mystery of death and to anchor it on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I have always thought of death, for a long time, to be both a natural process as well as a negative result of man's participation in his choice of separation from His creator God at the genesis of creation. The verse that Acolatse alludes in this thinking is Genesis 2:17 " but you mus...