Imagination is Our Medicine

Imagination is Our Medicine

The theme for the 2022 International Women’s Day campaign begins with: “Imagine a gender equal world.” I love this first sentence, because it is a reminder that our imagination is a necessary ingredient in creating the reality we want to see. Imagination is tricky...
This Prophet Didn’t Mince Words with Oppressors

This Prophet Didn’t Mince Words with Oppressors

Reading the text of the prophet Nahum is an exercise in theology in the service of imagination, and imagination in the service of theology. Yes, it is a “text of terror,” a tour de force description of the defeat, fall and ultimate humiliation of Nineveh, the greatest...

Just Imagine: No Longer Reducing Others to Labels

An ethical response to the Earth requires the use of imagination for proper “knowing,” says Norman Wirzba in his book, “From Nature to Creation: A Christian Vision for Understanding and Loving Our World.” In advancing this argument, he refers...

Prophets See World for What It Could Be

The defining characteristic of the biblical prophets was not the ability to predict the future, especially not in the Nostradamus-type way that we tend to think of it in modern times. Neither was their role primarily that of acting as the social conscience for ancient...

Why You Need to Free Your Stifled Imagination

We leave the imagination stuff to children – imaginary friends and Peter Pan’s epic imaginary food fight come to mind. Certainly, higher thinkers and wise adults would have moved past imagination to knowledge. This is dangerous. Maybe our quest for knowledge is...