by Dish Staff Richard Beck, a Christian psychologist, wants his fellow believers to be more constructive participants in discussions about mental illness, especially asking them “to see how attending to and caring for the body in mental illness is as ‘spiritual’ as bible study and prayer”: Within Christianity discussions about mental illness are often afflicted … Continue reading Dark Nights Of The Body And Soul
Richard Beck argues that cultivating friendships, especially across class boundaries, might be “the most important thing the church can to do help lift people out of poverty”: [W]hat I find lacking in many churches is friendship, a face-to-face, first-name-basis relationality between rich and poor. This is what is missing in many churches. Programs abound but … Continue reading The Sacrament Of Friendship
In an interview about his new book, The Slavery of Death, Richard Beck thinks through the question: The answer most of us would give, shaped as we are by the culture, is this: you’re a nobody. If you’re not someone who “stands out” you’re a nobody. Brene Brown calls this the “shame-based fear of being … Continue reading “Who Am I When Nobody Pays Attention?”
“Union with God is not something we acquire by technique but the grounding truth of our lives that engenders the very search for God. Because God is the ground of our being, the relationship between creature and Creator is such that, by sheer grace, separation is not possible. God does not know how to be … Continue reading Quote For The Day
Richard Beck finds wisdom in the Christmas TV specials he watched as a child: Hermey, Rudolph, and Yukon Cornelius, after being chased by The Abominable Snowman, find the Island of Misfit Toys. This is an island where rejected, unwanted, and unloved toys find sanctuary. Rudolph, sympathetic to the plight of the Misfit Toys, because Rudolph knows … Continue reading Lessons From Rudolph
Richard Beck ponders Caravaggio’s intentions: Most think Matthew is the bearded man. It appears that he’s pointing to himself as if to say “Me?” in response to Jesus’s call. This theory is supported by two others works of which The Calling is a part, The Inspiration of St. Matthew and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. … Continue reading Who Is Matthew In The Calling Of St. Matthew?
That’s what Richard Beck argues in a theologically-inflected rumination on how blogging feeds the competitive, narcissistic tendencies he finds at the heart of original sin: One of the things I’ve learned from writers like James Alison, a theologian deeply informed by Rene Girard, is how rivalry is intimately associated with our self-concept. Specifically, most of … Continue reading “Blogging Isn’t Good For The Soul”
A reader writes: I've been following your Calvin and Hobbes/Fight Club posts, so I thought I'd share this series of essays. The author, Richard Beck, is a psychology professor at Abilene Christian University. He presents a thoroughly worthwhile exploration of the theology of Watterson's world.
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