February 12

Today marks Sangha Day, or Magha Puja, in the Buddhist tradition. It is sometimes referred to as Buddhist “All Saints Day,” a celebration of the Buddhist community (Sangha). Thich Nhat Hanh said, “The next Buddha will be a sangha” — in much the way the church identifies itself as the Body of Christ.On this day in 1502, in a cruel but all-too-typical perversion of Christian faith, Queen Isabella of Castille outlawed Islam in her kingdom, and forced Muslims to convert to Catholicism. 

On this day in 2004, Mayor Gavin Newsom instructed the city of San Francisco to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. 

This is the birthday, in 1047, of Peter Abelard, a brilliant theologian who believed that reason was an important aspect of faith. He was charged (but cleared) with heresy. His letters to and from Heloise, his wife and fellow monastic, are a window into medieval faith, mysticism, love, and their tragic story. 

And today marks the death, in 1834, of Friedrich Schleiermacher, an influential theologian who rejected many dogmatic and supernatural claims of Christianity, but tried to hold fast to its psychological and spiritual core. He believed that the heart of Christianity, the faith Jesus embodied, was “absolute dependence on God.” 

Reflection: 

Peter Abelard wrote: 

Friedrich Schleiermacher wrote: 

Abelard and Schleiermacher both demonstrate the creative tension of theology as “faith seeking understanding.” In these devotionals, my chosen saints are not just pious exemplars who have official approval stamped on them by church officials, but people who have been committed to all truth as God’s truth. Their example of religious questioning stands in stark contrast to the purges, Inquisitions, and genocides of Queen Isabella and the other religious autocrats of Europe.

Prayer: God of truth-telling and wisdom-seeking, make us uncomfortable with easy answers and clichés. Help us to ask the good questions that make the powerful squirm and that open new doors for liberation. Amen.