Chris:We were asked by the General Assembly of the church to look at the Doctrine of Discovery to understand its implications historically
Keep ReadingGod created us as co-creators and consumers. We were made to seek things to consume: to eat, to drink, and to enjoy sex. Psalm 104:14-15: You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate,
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We arrive at Apartment 309 breathless from the sprint up two flights of stairs, carrying our full complement of equipment: the 40-pound backpack with an oxygen tank and one of every item we might conceivably need on a call; the 50-pound cardiac monitor; and the 10-pound tackle box containing the
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Chris:We were asked by the General Assembly of the church to look at the Doctrine of Discovery to understand its implications historically and the contemporary damage that it continues to do. I don’t think there is any more historic perspective among the Native American Presbyterians than yours and that of
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Watching the PC(USA)’s Task Force to Review and Help Reform Drug Policy in the United States Months earlier, the process had already begun. Members of a task force appointed by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America had convened twice,
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Addiction, Drug Policy, and the Body of Christ Past Approaches and Present Concerns Re-Examining our Nation’s Responses to Drugs, Rev. Gordon Edwards and John Lindsay-Poland A Biblical and Theological Reflection on Consumption, Addiction, and Prejudicial Drug Policy, Rev. Max Lynn Amethyst Church: An Opening Editorial, Rev. Dr. Chris Iosso Addiction: A
MoreFrom the Brokenness of Addiction to the Healing of Communion Read Chuck’s interview with James B. Nelson about his book Thirst: God and the Alcoholic Experience. An American – s/he could be any of us – discovers the proverbial magic lamp, replete with genie and three wishes. “I would like
MoreInterview with Author James B. Nelson Special from Presbyterian Health, Education, and Welfare Association (PHEWA). (See also http://www.phewacommunity.org/) Read interviewer Rev. Chuck Booker’s own reflections on addiction in his article Spiritus Contra Spiritum! A renowned Christian ethicist who spent most of his career at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities,
MoreThe Rat Park In the mid-to-late twentieth century, scientists conducted a series of experiments on groups of rats. In the early experiments, the rats were housed in cramped, isolated cages where they received a regular supply of food, water, and morphine. What the researchers found is that these rats would
MoreThe following prayer is reprinted with permission from the book Prayers for The New Social Awakening, ed. Christian Iosso and Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty. O God, we pray for all those in recovery whose demons are kept at bay one day at a time; for those clean twenty-four hours and wondering if
MoreExcerpts The article excerpted below was originally published in Religions Journal. You can also download the full article as a PDF. Mercadante, Linda. “Sin and Addiction: Conceptual Enemies or Fellow Travelers?.” Religions 6(2) (2015): 614-625. Accessed May 14, 2015. doi:10.3390/rel6020614. Abstract: The addiction recovery metaphor of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and
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An Opening Editorial There is crystal meth, and there is a crystal against meth and all its intoxicating cousins: the amethyst. In Greek and Roman mythology, the god Dionysus or Bacchus repents of an act of intemperate anger that killed and then transformed a young woman to white stone by
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