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In Memory of Marcus: March 11, 1942 – January 21, 2015

By Jennifer Schwarz | March 21, 2015 | 0 Comments

A memorial celebrating the life and influence of Marcus Borg will be held on Sunday, March 22nd, 2015. This public service of remembrance will be at 2pm at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. As a modest tribute to Borg’s contribution to “Living the Questions,” we offer this clip of Marcus demonstrating a body prayer for your own…

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God Does Not Explain

By Jennifer Schwarz | May 23, 2013 | 0 Comments

“The time has come and is long-since past” to abandon “the idea that God is ‘in control’.” It is an idea “so troublesome as to be utterly useless. But to think of the Divine as that power called love, the one who “suffers with” and comforts the afflicted regardless of the outcome, has spiritual integrity…

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Unbound from Yesterday’s Fears…

By Jennifer Schwarz | March 15, 2013 | 1 Comment

“If God is the ground of being, as I believe God is, then the only way you and I can worship God is by having the courage to be all that we can be — in the infinite variety of our humanity. Whether we are male or female, gay or straight, transgender or bisexual, white or…

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Jesus never heard of “Original Sin”

By Jennifer Schwarz | February 18, 2013 | 4 Comments

Not only is Original Sin NOT in the Bible, Elie Wiesel says that Original Sin is alien to Jewish thinking (and therefore alien to Jesus’ way of thinking). Let’s ditch the whole thing, shall we? Matthew Fox says, “Jesus never heard of ‘Original Sin’.” The term wasn’t even used until the 4th century, so it’s…

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HRC taps Living the Questions contributors to promote LGBTQ rights

By Jennifer Schwarz | May 27, 2011 | 0 Comments

May 22nd – 24th saw hundreds of faith leaders from all 50 states participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s Clergy Call for Justice and Equality for 2011.  Among the leaders gathered in Washington, D.C. to support legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, to ban employment discrimination against LGBT people, and protect students from…

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Jesus is Coming. Look Busy!

By Jennifer Schwarz | May 20, 2011 | 2 Comments

LtQ2 contributor Rev. Dr. Barbara Rossing speaks for many rational followers of Jesus when she acknowledges that the rapture is nothing but fear-based spiritual abuse. Calling it the “rapture racket,” she points out how the rapture industry preys on desperate people frightened by unscrupulous and misguided teachers.  In Episode 13 of Living the Questions 2, “Debunking…

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The “Love Wins” Hellabelloo

By Jennifer Schwarz | March 11, 2011 | 8 Comments

hellabelloo noun [in sing.] informal 1. irrational tantrums among evangelical Christians over Rob Bell’s book, “Love Wins”: that’s quite a hellabelloo over Rob’s new book! 2. a commotion over “the tiddlywinks and peccadilloes of religion” (Fosdick); a fuss The evangelical blogosphere is all aflutter over Rob Bell’s soon-to-be-unleashed book “Love Wins.” Having perused an advance…

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LtQ’s Jesus Jars Sports Illustrated, Angers Portland Radio Listeners

By Jennifer Schwarz | January 28, 2011 | 5 Comments

PORTLAND, OREGON – What is media giant Entercom Communications afraid of? Curriculum publisher “Living the Questions” recently contracted with three of Entercom’s Portland area stations, KGON-FM (Classic Rock), KWJJ-FM (Country), KYCH-FM (Classic Hits) to run professionally produced ads as part of their online streaming radio services. Without an explanation beyond “due to listener complaint,” the…

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“We Gonna Overcome”

By Jennifer Schwarz | January 13, 2011 | 0 Comments

Montgomery, Alabama. 1965. 100,000 people demonstrating for voting rights. Tex Sample was there. Finally the time came for Dr. King’s speech. I still regard that speech in Montgomery as the equal of the one that he had made in Washington in 1963. And when Dr. King enters into the last part of that speech, he began…

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Christmas stories big on symbolism. History? Not so much.

By Jennifer Schwarz | December 17, 2010 | 1 Comment

It’s that time of year again. Shoppers are rushing home with their treasures — all to honor the birth of a 1st century Jewish peasant. If most folks even think about anything beyond the gifts and carols, the conventional wisdom is that we’re celebrating the occurrence of actual historical events some 2000 years ago —…

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