Reflections on the Christian Message

As I’ve confessed on previous occasions, I don’t really think of myself as a Christian, although I was raised by at least one parent who was a reliable Methodist for most of her life. But I’ve been reflecting on the Christian message recently, and since Christmas is approaching, I suppose there’s no better time of year for this sort of contemplation. When I think of the overarching message of Christ, three central concepts stand out for me.

Welcome!

I write as The Practical Utopian because my twin desires are to be:
• Down-to-earth — I try to write short pieces explaining big ideas that will be broadly useful;
• Idealistic — I write with the goal of helping all of us achieve better outcomes, both for ourselves and for those around us.

Moral Religion

The Jewish scriptures admirably illustrate the development from the religion of fear to moral religion, a development continued in the New Testament. The religions of all civilized peoples, especially the peoples of the Orient, are primarily moral religions. The development from a religion of fear to moral religion is a great step in peoples’ lives. And yet, that primitive religions are based entirely on fear and the religions of civilized peoples purely on morality is a prejudice against which we must be on our guard. The truth is that all religions are a varying blend of both types, with this differentiation: that on the higher levels of social life the religion of morality predominates.

— Albert Einstein, 1930

Ring Them Bells

This is a gem of a Dylan song: not a big, gaudy rock, but a modest yet finely wrought masterpiece. I find Dylan’s original version to be a bit slow and somnolent, but the song comes alive for me when I hear Sarah Jarosz sing it.

Built with Notenik

Available from the Mac App Store, Notenik can be used for taking, organizing, formatting and publishing notes, with each note consisting of multiple fields, as well as chunks of text of any length. This latest version of The Practical Utopian website has been built using Notenik.