Messages in the Mall

by Marshall Paul V

• ISBN13: 9781596270817
• ISBN10: 1596270810
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-01
• Publisher: Seabury Books

Summary

How does a prominent religious leader engage readers in issues relating to society and popular culture? Especially when they are apt to be turned off by anything even remotely "Christian" in nature? This is the challenge that has faced Bishop Paul Marshall for more than a decade in the columns he writes for fifteen secular newspapers in the fourteen counties that comprise the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Author Biography

The Right Rev. Paul V. Marshall is Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a noted scholar and writer

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 1
The First Column, February 1997	p. 5
Virtues and Vices	p. 7
Grace in an African Airport	p. 7
Maturity, the Accessible Virtue	p. 8
Pride Is a Silly Thing to Die For	p. 9
Accepting Responsibility Leads to Life	p. 11
Embracing Necessary Pain	p. 12
Encouragement, Curiosity, and Cutting Slack	p. 14
Overcoming Perfection(ism)	p. 15
Being Pleasant	p. 16
Accepting Consequences	p. 18
Is Telling the Truth Irrelevant?	p. 19
The Importance of Pulling Weeds	p. 21
Patient Prophecy in an Elevator	p. 22
On Eating Together	p. 23
Conflict Advances Truth	p. 25
Of Frogs and Sailors	p. 26
What's That Funny Smell?	p. 28
Not Far from the Kingdom	p. 31
The Spirituality of The Sopranos	p. 31
In the Water with Us	p. 32
Looking at Life's Signals	p. 34
God and the Solitary Golfer	p. 35
Beating the Inner Reptile	p. 36
What Do They Eat?	p. 38
On the Money: The Practical Atheist	p. 39
Finding God	p. 41
Religion Gave Him the Wrong God	p. 43
Faith Is What You Die For; Dogma Is What You Kill For	p. 44
Learning from What Jesus Did Not Do	p. 45
What Makes Grace Amazing	p. 46
Stop Being So Humble	p. 48
Bittersweet Love	p. 51
Irreconcilable Differences	p. 51
New Year's Resolutions for Lovers	p. 53
Desire and Forgiveness	p. 54
Love and Adventure	p. 56
Body Worship: Making Love	p. 57
A Grown-up Valentine	p. 58
Lovers and Friends: The Ultimate Human Communion	p. 60
Public Issues	p. 63
America's Other Moral Crisis	p. 63
Scoundrels Hijack Our Values	p. 64
Littleton: A Time for Examination	p. 66
Cloning: Can We Think Together?	p. 67
The Last of the Good Negroes	p. 69
Elected Officials Need Vision	p. 71
Strong Religious Belief: Sick or Healthy	p. 72
Getting over the Pursuit of Happiness	p. 74
Unsung Heroes All around Us	p. 75
Let's Have More Adult Content	p. 77
Our Duty to Oppose War in Iraq	p. 78
Women's Bodies: Explorting Cultural Homicide	p. 80
A Positive Tax Revolt	p. 81
The Shepard Murder: Words Are a Lens	p. 82
Diversity Alone Kills: Patterns of Daily Action Make a People	p. 84
Losing Innocence	p. 85
Shall We Fund Education or Institutionalize Poverty and Racism?	p. 87
Recapturing Public Moral Sense	p. 88
Casinos: My Money Is on the Moral Questions	p. 90
Preaching to the Choir-Church Life	p. 93
Does Your Church Fill All Mugs?	p. 93
On Daily Hunger	p. 94
In Praise of Name Tags	p. 96
What I Have Learned from Women Clergy	p. 97
The Da Vinci Opportunity	p. 98
Son of Encouragement	p. 100
There Must Be Boundaries in Churches	p. 101
Forgiven but Not Absolved	p. 103
God Changed the Retirement Age Before Social Security Did	p. 104
Religion after the Garage Roof	p. 106
Churches That Want to Grow, Sacrifice	p. 107
Conversations with Others	p. 109
Should Christians Seek to Convert Jews?	p. 109
Is That the Bishop in the Dumpster?	p. 110
The Christ-Killer in My House	p. 112
Godless Orthodoxy and Holy Compassion	p. 113
Mary the Mother of Jesus and...	p. 115
We Know Less than We Think about the Faith of Others	p. 116
Why Do Churches Exist?	p. 118
Holidays and Holy Days	p. 121
Learning from the Revolution (July 4)	p. 121
Our Debt to Coal Miners (Labor Day)	p. 123
Holy, But Not Necessarily Nice (All Saints)	p. 124
Shape the World with Two Words (Thanksgiving)	p. 125
A Time for Longing, Hope, Change (Advent)	p. 127
Is Somebody Out There Having a Good Time? (Christmas)	p. 128
Behind the Tinsel (Christmas)	p. 130
In Swaddling Accessibility (Christmas)	p. 131
Start the New Year Right: Ask a Question (New Year)	p. 133
Messages for Latecomers at the Manger (Epiphany)	p. 134
A Word to My Fellow Failures (January)	p. 135
Groundhog Day, February 2	p. 137
We're All African-American This Month (Black History Month)	p. 138
We Walk Before We Run (Ash Wednesday)	p. 140
Changing Our Reality (Lent)	p. 141
Giving Up Victimhood for Lent	p. 142
Sorting for Sameness (Lent)	p. 144
The Passion of the Christ: You Could Make a Movie out of It (Holy Week)	p. 145
If Christ Has Not Been Raised (Easter)	p. 147
When the End Is the Beginning (Easter)	p. 148
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