Articles By: John Pattison

John Pattison is the Deputy Editor of the Burnside Writers Collective. He is also a frequent contributor to RELEVANT Magazine and RELEVANT Online. An Oregonian by birth and by choice, John will leave his beloved home state for one year - from October 2009 through October 2010 - to travel around the country with his wife, Kate, and two year-old daughter, Molly. John will write a regular column for the BWC about the journey, which he envisions as a pilgrimage through evangelical America. He blogs about the trip at http://onthenarrowroad.com/.

Or Is He?

A couple days ago I finished reading a very good book, “The Language of God,” by Francis C. Collins, the longtime head of the Human Genome Project and, by the way, an evangelical Christian. At one point in the book, Collins cites a 2004 Gallup poll which asked the following question: “Which...

November 27th, 2009 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Listening Party: Rich Mullins

“The World as Best as I Remember It, Volume One” – 1991 “The World as Best as I Remember It, Volume Two” – 1992 “A Liturgy, A Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band” – 1993 In the summer of 2001, I drove between Nebraska and the west coast three times. I listened...

September 19th, 2009 | Featured, Music | Read More

Isn’t Life Delicious?

Once when I was a kid, we were watching television together as a family, and this McDonald’s commercial came on. It’s the one where a little kid brings his dad to school as his show and tell. The kid says something like “This is my dad. He’s my best friend.” Then somebody...

September 17th, 2009 | Television | Read More

Evangelical Myths

A couple months ago I started watching the television show “Northern Exposure” on DVD. “Northern Exposure,” which ran for six seasons on CBS starting in 1990, is set in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska. One of the most fascinating themes of this quirky, funny, and sometimes deeply moving...

August 27th, 2009 | Essays | Read More

Burnside Readers Collective

Relevant Online asked me a few days ago if I could write an article on the best books of 2009 so far. But rather than compile a list that reflected only my own limited tastes, I asked a few regular contributors to the BWC to write a paragraph or two about some of their recent favorites. Head over to...

August 13th, 2009 | Books | Read More

Peace Looks Like Jesus Christ

Three weeks ago, on December 27, in response to continued mortar and rocket fire targeting Israeli settlements, Israel launched a massive air campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. More than 220 Palestinians were reported killed in the first days of the offensive. Israeli ground forces entered Gaza...

January 19th, 2009 | Social Justice | Read More

Focus on the Family: Pray for Rain

We’re starting a new feature here on the BWC Blog. Originally we were going to call this series “James Dobson Watch” and use it as a tool to keep tabs on and lovingly tease our brothers and sisters in the Religious Right. It didn’t take long for us to remember that there is plenty of ridiculousness...

August 26th, 2008 | Focus on the Family | Read More

Summer Mix Tape 2007

We haven’t experienced much of it here in Portland, but news is trickling in from around the country that summer has arrived. In honor of the season, a few weeks ago the Writers Collective announced that we were putting together a digital Mix Tape that would feature some our of musical MySpace...

June 25th, 2007 | Music | Read More

Jose Saramago – Blindness

I took Jose Saramago’s Blindness with me to read in an airport. I always try to look smart in airports, and highbrowish literature is an excellent accessory toward that end. Plus, the harder a book is to read, the more readily it will distract me from the possibility of plummeting to my death. It...

June 25th, 2007 | Books | Read More

Update: Burnside Collective Reading: Round Two

The ballots have been cast and a voice vote would have been fine, because “This Beautiful Mess” stomped the competition. Rick McKinley’s latest book received, no kidding, ten times as many votes as the other books combined. To the McKinley supporters, I say: Congratulations. Your “get...

May 28th, 2007 | Books | Read More