Spokane Faith & Values

Contributors » Rev. Bill Ellis

Rev. Bill Ellis is intrigued by how the Bible was put together. How come some texts were included and some weren’t? What about the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Gnostic Gospels? What does the inclusion and exclusion of certain texts mean, exactly?  These are the questions that keep his wheels turning and what he writes about for SpokaneFAVS.

Ellis is dean of St. John’s Cathedral. He has a bachelor’s degree in history, a Master of Divinity and holds an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

Most Recent

God is not motivated by hatred

| Feb 1, 2013

A further thought on God and violence. One of the common responses to the belief that God is not violent, especially among those who are not so religious, is that God must be violent because the whole universe is violent.
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God is not violent

| Jan 25, 2013

In another post on this website Eric Blauer has shared his struggle with the relationship between violence and faith. If you haven’t read it, please do; it is an important statement.  My own journey has led me to a conclusion that might or might not be different from Eric’s, but it feels to me like it is in the same neighborhood.
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“We’re a society that believes violence is the answer”

| Dec 21, 2012

The horrible killings of last Friday in Newtown, Conn. instantly elicited a huge range of responses, as it should. It is a tribute to our collective psyche that we continue to be shocked, outraged, stunned by such events. In spite of their frequency we are not yet inured to them, but their frequency is growing. 
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This election dangerous questions arose about exploiting the poor, dehumanizing the alien

| Nov 15, 2012

I waited for a week before writing anything on the election because I wanted to see how durable my first impressions of the outcome would be. My first impressions turned out to be pretty durable; I am still happy with the outcome for two reasons. First, it represents our best chance to plot a stable and moderate course toward reducing the deficit by sharing the burden across the entire spectrum of American people and not simply forcing the poor to pay for the whole thing.
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Can you really get away from God?

| Oct 24, 2012

The Oct. 15 issue of Newsweek had a fascinating article by Dr. Eben Alexander entitled "My Proof of Heaven." Alexander is a neurosurgeon who describes himself as a man who “considered myself a faithful Christian,” but more so, “in name than in actual belief.” He tells us that he “sympathized deeply with those who wanted to believe that there was a God somewhere out there who loved us unconditionally.”
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Romney, Obama have shared values

| Sep 6, 2012

Every four years as the presidential campaign ramps up I get this feeling I can’t seem to shake, and though it seems obvious to me, I can’t find all that many people who agree with it. As far as I can see our choices for president do not represent two starkly contrasting visions of what this country can be, but rather they represent highly nuanced, barely distinguishable views of what this country can be.
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How are liberals responding?

| Jul 20, 2012

Eric Blauer wants to know how liberal Christians are responding to Russell Douthat’s editorial on the decline of Liberal Christianity. Diana Butler Bass and the Rev. Winnie Varghese have given two very fine responses and I have a few observations of my own.
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Christian views differ on marriage equality

| Jun 13, 2012

Soon after the state legislature legalized same-sex marriage the effort to repeal that law began, and it now appears we will be voting in November on whether or not the State of Washington will recognize such marriages. Though the signatures on the initiative petition repealing that law have not yet been fully certified, supporters of repeal are confident they have garnered far more than enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.
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Paying off our nation’s debt is a spiritual issue

| Mar 29, 2012

And so now, as often happens, we meet at the intersection of religion and politics streets. Representative Paul Ryan’s budget committee of the U.S. House has produced a budget that cuts 5.3 trillion dollars from projected deficits over the next decade, a formidable number that does not erase the...
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The threat of ideological purity in politics

| Feb 29, 2012

A big part of the battle for this year's Republican nomination has been couched in terms of which of the four remaining candidates is the most conservative. I cannot help but be suspicious of this. My reasons have nothing to do with conservatism itself, but rather with what seems to be the triumph...
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