scott edward peter steinkerchner op

dominican friar
catholic priest
theologian
internet developer

Quicklinks

My new Travel Log is up, a place where I will post photos and reflections as I travel around the world. Links for older travel logs can be found below.

My dissertation, "Watching Clouds: Engaging in Dialogue Across Disparate World-Pictures" is available, as is this Short Version (just the introduction and conclusion). The dissertation is about how and why to talk to people who see the world so differently from us that misunderstandings threaten to overwhelm understanding. In these situations I argue that agreement should not be the goal of dialogue. Learning about and learning from the other person is sufficient, and these goals require a different method of dialogue.

Theology
Articles

Jesus' Saving Death. Why did Jesus have to die on a cross to save us? This is a perennial question of those who know the Christian story. One answer is found in Atonement Theology, that Jesus' death atones for our sins. This traditional understanding is given a new look as it is combined with insights from Liberation Theology and God's preferential option for the poor.

Wu-wei and the Gospel of John A new look at the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John using insights gained through the study of wu-wei (nothing-doing) in Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching.

The Will to Believe. A look at William James' turn of the century defense of religious belief and its relevance for today.

Social Sin. A common contemporary Catholic definition of social sin and a proposed modification to this definition based on contemporary trinitarian theology.

What Isn't Said in Humanae Vitae. An Analysis of the Implicit Views Behind the Catholic Church's Stand on Contraception.

Websites I Manage

The latest, daily dominican preaching at theWord

Franciscans International and Dominicans for Justice and Peace working together at the United Nations Office for Human Rights in Geneva. Last summer I went to Angola, and there is now http://angola.op.org/ , http://mosaiko.op.org/ and http://www.icrangola.com/ .

(I have moved on to new projects and am now promoting new websites such as James Keenan's Catholic Ethics. The Monastic Matrix site that I helped with has a new home at USC.)

Don Goergen O.P. also has a new web log on his reflections springing from living in a Dominican Ashram (a house of prayer).

Bio

My Curriculum Vitae.

Travelogues

Here is the latest Travel Log

Summer, 2004: Angola.

My travelog in the United States, Europe, and Africa.

My Diary of PERU

Here are some of my favorite photos

The Dolomites in Italy:

• My first trip by myself, with pictures of the Gràdner Joch at sunset.
• The lovely town of Bozen.
• The hike up the Sella Massif, the mountains behind Gràdner Joch.
• The final hike up the lovely Langental Valley.