Greg Garrett
The Episcopal Church
Baylor University, Waco, TX
Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, TX
Greg Garrett is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Free Bird (chosen by Publishers' Weekly and the Rocky Mountain News as one of the most promising fiction debuts of 2002), Cycling, and Shame, the memoirs Crossing Myself and No Idea, and nonfiction books including The Gospel according to Hollywood, Holy Superheroes, Stories from the Edge: A Theology of Grief, We Get to Carry Each Other: The Gospel according to U2, and One Fine Potion: The Literary Magic of Harry Potter. A past winner of regional and national prizes for fiction and nonfiction, Greg is also a major writer for "The Voice," a contemporary language Bible for the emerging church, and a major contributor to Feasting on the Word, a lectionary commentary, in the areas of theology and homiletics. He writes a regular column on religion and politics for Patheos, and is a frequent contributor to The Thoughtful Christian.
Greg has taught (creative writing, literature, film, and theology) at Baylor University for over twenty years; he is Professor of English there, and has twice won university-wide teaching awards. His students have gone on to success as writers, teachers, scholars, and leaders in the Church. His own vocational service to the Church is as Writer in Residence for the priests and pastors in training at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest (where he earned his M.Div.), and as a licensed lay preacher based at St. David's Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas. Greg is also a frequent teacher, speaker, and workshop and retreat leader across the United States and overseas.
When he is not traveling, Greg lives in Austin with his sons Jake and Chandler. He loves movies, fiction, comics, music, the outdoors, and Jesus. The other Jesus, that is.
You may contact Greg about readings, lectures and teaching at Greg_Garrett at baylor.edu
You may buy Greg's books at Amazon.com.
Latest Content by Greg Garrett
Greg Garrett
(
TEC)
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him." (Jn. 9:1-3, NRSV)
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Greg Garrett
(
TEC)
Sometimes it's all too much.
I know that.
Believe me, I know that.
Last week was tough. Tough for all of us, I know, who followed the news of the latest act of terror against the U.S., but especially hard in this part of the world because of the devastating and deadly explosion in West, Texas, only ten miles from Baylor University, where I teach.
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Other Recent Content by Greg Garrett
April 25, 2013
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Working on a final novel together, Brennan re-taught me this great lesson: God already loves us, seeks us, knows us, and God's judgment is always tempered by mercy and grace.
April 20, 2013
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
It is, literally, the year of C. S. Lewis. Fifty years since his death, on Nov. 22, 1963 -- yes, he died the same day as Kennedy and Aldous Huxley -- he is more influential than ever.
March 28, 2013
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
As I listened to the album, I noticed more than once that I was performing that action which in my tradition we use when we feel blessed by the very touch of God: crossing myself.
March 22, 2013
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
It's not just Rapture prophets who make Christians look bad. Let's all stop talking about the End of Things and live the life of faith here and now.
March 10, 2013
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Rather than canonizing Lewis, McGrath's meticulously detailed book succeeds in humanizing him.
February 24, 2013
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
This year's Best Picture films seem to espouse a common spiritual message: You have to get up every morning and do the work, where you are, with what you have.
February 11, 2013
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
A third to a half of us are introverts, and yet our schools, our businesses, and yes, our religious institutions are set up on the model that all of us are extroverts.
February 08, 2013
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Why do Lance Armstrong, Manti Te'o, and other celebrities, politicians, and athletes go on national TV when they screw up?
February 03, 2013
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Christianity is tearing itself apart over the question of homosexuality. As Justin Lee notes in his new book Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate, young people who know and love gay people—or are themselves more comfortable in accepting their own gay identities—are finding themselves often forced to choose between a perception of the Church as peculiarly antagonistic to gays and their own sense of love and justice.
January 13, 2013
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
In his new book, Episcopal Bishop Andy Doyle of Texas says we are a more credible, more authentic voice when we are linked to the ancient faith of our ancestors.
December 21, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
I've been asked to write about theology and violence after every recent mass shooting, and I am sick to death of doing so, but the Newtown shootings feel different to me. I have not seen others--nor myself been--so affected by an event since 9/11, a comparison many in the media and in spiritual leadership roles have also made.
December 07, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Before Santa Claus there was St. Nicholas. Who was this patron saint of children, patron saint of sailors, our primary image of gift-giving and generosity?
November 25, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
If you’re going to play God, there might be something we can learn from those stories about a God who created order out of chaos, a loving God who wants our stories to end happily even if we choose otherwise, a God who cherishes light and conquers darkness.
November 23, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Author James Wellman argues that Rob Bell may be the bellwether of a new American Christianity. What does that mean for American Christianity?
November 17, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
A great work of great imagination like The Hobbit can entertain us, but it can also remind us that we are on an adventure, and that everything we do matters.
November 13, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
In the course of writing my column and, finally, the book "Faithful Citizenship," I came to agree with former Republican senator John Danforth that Christians should come to the political process not with "Christian issues" but with the spirit of reconciliation.
October 29, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
What the hit TV series Lost shows us about how much we need each other to survive.
October 14, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
In his new collection of speeches, the Archbishop of Canterbury offers a stirring model of intellectual engagement and Christian compassion.
October 06, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
In sequel to my developing argument of the past two weeks on theological touchstones and angry partisanship, this week I offer a conclusion from my book Faithful Citizenship: We are divided as nation and Church over partisan questions that are not worth coming to blows over—at least not in terms of Christian theology.
September 17, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
True holiness comes from placing God first -- and not mistaking faith for patriotism.
September 07, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Could the Episcopal process of "via media," or the middle way, cultivate greater truth and reconciliation in these politically divisive times?
August 25, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
A new book, American Dream 2.0, opens up an uncomfortable conversation about change and the way we talk about America, but it also suggests a way forward.
August 09, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Does the Christian tradition suggest that guns be widely available in America, as those arguing an absolute right to bear arms suggest?
July 24, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
The Hebrew Testament proscriptions against false gods strike us as ridiculous and archaic. We don't worship statues or graven images, do we?
July 02, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Yes, gay marriage is a cultural tidal wave washing over religious conservatives in both the States and Britain. No, it is not an insoluble problem, nor is it one that should require ministers or congregations being to make unwelcome concessions that violate their beliefs.
June 24, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
I wish I could tell my grandmother that some days her Jesus and my Jesus seem to be, at best, only distantly related.
June 11, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Why Queen Elizabeth, she of the Jubilee, she of pomp and wealth, is nonetheless a fantastic Christian role model.
May 15, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Most of us are guilty, very simply, of bad theology—the very same kind of bad theology (bad reading of scripture, bad understanding of the Christian tradition, bad living out of Christian community) exemplified by the teachings of America's Pastor-in-Chief, the Rev. Osteen. Banker Jesus, as I wrote in an essay last summer about Mr. Osteen, is just as pernicious a myth as Spiteful Jesus.
April 27, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Greg Garrett talks with author Timothy Beach-Verhey about what a 20th-century theologian could possibly have to say to the Church and society today.
April 21, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
What does it mean to be a faithful citizen in the 21st century? Read Chapter One from Faithful Citizenship, the new e-book by the popular author Greg Garrett.
April 12, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
In an insanely violent culture that has led to a million American murders since 1968, what is a faithful Christian response toward those who would own and use guns?
March 30, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Last week in an interview, writer Steven Zeitchik asked me a question about the topicality of the decade's top tween/teen cultural phenomena. Do Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games really have anything to say to us?
March 19, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Here is the dilemma for Rowan Williams, and for whatever Archbishop of Canterbury may follow: He has no authority to compel, only power to influence, and even as erudite and persuasive an Archbishop as Rowan Williams can only convince those who are willing to listen.
January 21, 2012
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
"How many of us are really prepared to follow the way of this radical rule breaker?" Author Becky Garrison considers the future of Christianity with Greg Garrett.
December 17, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
"25 Books" is, to paraphrase Henry David Thoreau, an attempt not to elevate the new, but to explore those things that never grow old.
November 18, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Each of us has a role to play in this fight for the world's poorest people. It's not whether we can make a difference in this famine, but how can we make a difference if we work together.
November 20, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
In his sermon on the Reign of Christ, Greg Garrett explores Jesus' teaching on separating the sheep and the goats, and helps us wrestle with the questions, "What does Jesus want me to do and to be? How will my life be different if Christ is King?"
November 05, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
In this month of Thanksgiving, we'll explore the problem of hunger and look to U2's Bono -- and his understanding of Jesus and the Kingdom -- as a guide for action.
October 28, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
A new book reveals how the monsters of the American imagination are also the monsters of its history.
October 14, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Christianity is not about praying in a certain way, or believing a certain thing, or making converts, or building a nice cabin at church camp.
September 30, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
The new movie "Drive" illuminates America in the here and now in ways that are alternately horrifying and hopeful.
September 25, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
A new book shows that American Muslims embrace America and want to be embraced in return as American citizens.
September 19, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
"We are right to be incensed at terrorist acts -- but wrong to ignore our own violation of Just War mandates even in the preservation of our nation." A review of a new book by Lee Camp.
September 03, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
How popular culture -- especially literature -- has helped us have the post-9/11 conversations our national leaders have been trying hard to avoid.
August 26, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Muslim Americans love America, and are here not to spread their faith, but for the reasons people have always come to America: to live with dignity, to worship freely, to pursue their dreams.
August 21, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
I want to propose (or remind you of) some ways you might read the Bible that break it and us open to see it in a new light, and to read for what is on the page instead of just seeing our favorite bears everywhere.
August 08, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
As we approach the tenth anniversary of 9/11, so many issues are still in play—our relationship with Islam, our understandings of geopolitics, even our readings of our own Constitution!—that clearly it's worth having a talk about how to find out what's true and what's false, and to judge our news sources so that we can use them responsibly to be thoughtful and informed citizens.
July 30, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Greg Garrett writes for Patheos.com: If I could give one piece of advice to those grieving in Norway, it would be to take on the monumental task of forgiveness.
July 17, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
So many people are writing about the Harry Potter finale, mourning it personally, and I, for one, am wondering why a mere entertainment has become such a giant part of people’s lives.
July 15, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
On of the most powerful men in the world, international media baron and naturalized American citizen Rupert Murdoch, has come to England this week to try and defuse a huge political and media scandal that has blown up into the biggest news in Britain just now—bigger even than Harry Potter!
May 24, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Dear Joel Osteen: For some years now I’ve stood back and looked the other way as you preached your message of optimism and faith rewarded to tens of thousands of worshipers and to the millions of people who have bought your best-selling books, as you’ve become perhaps America’s best-known preacher or inspirational speaker...
May 17, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
although we celebrate Easter Sunday in all sorts of Christian traditions, I fear we don’t always really celebrate—or believe in—Resurrection.
April 07, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
In the darkest times of my own life, I came to believe that Jesus was working some sort of miracle in my life, bringing me to sight and new life, and I had no words for it other than the words of the man born blind: This is what I know: I was blind, and now I see.
March 22, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
I feel a little sorry for John 3:16, featured on billboards, on signs at athletic events, a t-shirt and bumper-sticker verse like Romans 3:23 and John 14:6 forced into service as a Twitter encapsulation of Christian faith, and somehow expected to do the heavy lifting of conversion for the people who encounter it.
March 19, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
Sometimes in the course of your life you hear a voice that has the ring of truth to it.... Brian McLaren has always been such a voice to me.
March 15, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
This year, I’m not naming a specific thing I’m giving or taking up for Lent. Instead, I’m standing up and saying “no” to as many things of the world as I can. And “yes” to as many things of the Spirit as I can.
March 08, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
In the second excerpt from his new book "The Other Jesus" (WJK), Greg Garrett continues to explore why it's important to reconsider our understanding of Jesus in the church today.
March 01, 2011
Greg Garrett
(TEC)
In this first excerpt from his new book, "The Other Jesus" (WJK), Greg Garrett explores what's wrong with American Christianity, and how to get back on track.
