For the better part of the last year, I’ve been working on a book with a young man who grew up in a Lutheran home but now identifies as an atheist. The book is intended to be a dialogue, to explore what we each believe, why, how we came to those beliefs, and how we bridge our differences in an increasingly pluralistic world. It’s been an incredibly fun project, as Ryan and I have a fair amount in common, both love candid and challenging conversations, and because, frankly, he’s a really great person to work with. But it’s also been quite challenging, as he raises questions for me that I haven’t, quite honestly, had to think about...

I often find myself stuck between two extremes in our religious culture. Either 1) take the Bible literally and thereby ignore much of what modern disciples – whether science or history or others – have taught us about the way the world works. Or 2) dismiss the Bible entirely because it doesn’t always conform to what we’ve learned about the world and thereby ignore the wisdom of our faith. I don’t think I’m alone feeling this bind. I think, in fact, that lots of faithful Christians want an alternative to the false dichotomy of faith or reason, head or heart, fundamentalist Christianity or outright atheism. Much of our dilemma...