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Continuing with our series on the Founding Fathers Religion and their reflections on God, and Christianity, we move today to some commentary from that Progressive Christian and inventor Benjamin Franklin. The following passage is taken from a letter Franklin wrote to the reverend Ezra Stile in 1790, when Franklin was 84 years old, and Stile was serving as president of Yale College. Here...

The Founding Fathers of the United States are often referred to as a mixture of anti-clerical Christians (i.e. religious free-thinkers) and deists. In many ways, we might think of them all as laying the groundwork for what is now referred to as the Progressive Christianity movement---for they were leaders who possessed a solid sense of reason that was guided by an understanding of...

The Lebanese-American writer Kahlil Gibran is best known for his elegant and moving book The Prophet. But Gibran produced many other works during his short life, which ended in 1931. Since his death, Gibran has inspired countless men and women, including artists like John Lennon who paraphrased Gibran's famous verse, "Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that...

The great Russian author Leo Tolstoy is a monumental figure in the world of literature. His epic novel War and Peace is unrivaled in its breadth and scope. But Tolstoy was more than just a fiction writer. He was a keen observer of the human condition and arguably the most progressive Christian in Russia during the 19th and early 20th century. His later...

In today's online issue of Salon.com there is an interesting interview with Robert Wright, a well-known American journalist. Wright is the author of a new book "The Evolution of God," which approaches its subject from the logical standpoint that, more often than not, we have created our Gods to match our own evolving self-image and needs. Wright refers to himself as a materialist...

Readers of LivingHour.org have noticed that we cast a pretty wide net when talking about Progressive Christianity and the works of Progressive Christians. In our writings we include people who've never identified themselves as Christians, much less Progressive Christians. Indeed we've even included atheists, like Albert Camus, among our sources of Progressive Christian inspiration. Although our definition of a Progressive Christian may seem a...

When they had almost reached Jerusalem, having come as far as Bethphage, on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent on two disciples. 2 "Go to the village facing you," he said, "and you will immediately find a donkey tethered, with a foal by her side; untie her, and lead her here for me. 3 And, if anyone says anything to you, you are...

The 14th century German vicar Meister Eckhart was in many ways a 21st century Progressive Christian. Although highly educated and an admirer of Thomas Aquinus, Eckhart also realized the limits of formal education, once telling the Paris elite that not one person among them could conceive with all their learning what God was in the meanest creature, not even in a fly. An indomitable...

 Jesus said to his disciples: "It is inevitable that there should be snares; yet woe to you who is answerable for them! 2 It would be better for you to be flung into the sea with a mill-stone round your neck, than that you should prove a snare to even one of these lowly ones. 3 Be on your guard! If your brother...

 Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and never despair. 2 "There was," he said, "in a certain town a judge, who had no fear of God nor regard for man. 3 In the same town there was a widow who went to him again and again, and said: 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' 4...

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. 2 There was a man there, known by the name of Zacchaeus, who was a commissioner of taxes and a rich man. 3 He tried to see what Jesus was like; but, being short, he was unable to do so because of the crowd. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed into...

The Catholic writer Graham Greene famously summed up his life as a search for "Ways of Escape." He said that his abundant writing and travels were simply a means to escape the panic fear, madness, and melancholia of contemporary life. Green's life summation goes a long way in helping to explain some events found in the canonical Gospels of Jesus the Christ. It often...

In today's Living Hour post, we are going to share a translation of the Lord's Prayer into Portuguese. In Portugal, the Lord's Prayer is known as the "Pai Nosso" (Our Father) prayer. Among Catholics, Portugal is well-known as the country of "Our Lady of Fátima," which refers to apparitions of the Virgin Mary which appeared to three, poor shepherd children (Lúcia Santos and...

Originally published in 1989, The New Zealand Prayer Book (created by the Anglican Church in Aotearoa) was re-published in a new version by Harper Collins in 1997. This prayer book was celebrated by clergy and lay people alike for the way it combined the traditional Anglican prayers and forms of worship with the rich earth-based spirituality of the Maori and other Pacific Island...

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