Jun 3, 2020Member-onlyRacism 101 for White People: Entering One’s Whiteness.It is often said that white people cannot understand the racism black people have to endure. The experience of racist discrimination is the unique possession of those who undergo it. In our world today, it is the experience of the non-white marginalized. …Racism4 min readRacism4 min read
May 13, 2020Member-onlyLiberty U Eliminates Philosophy Department: the Uneasy combination of Philosophy and FundamentalismThe other day, Mark Foreman, professor of philosophy and religion at Liberty University, made the startling announcement on his Facebook page that Liberty University was getting rid of its philosophy department. He wrote: “Liberty University has chosen to completely dissolve the philosophy department. As of June 30 I am unemployed.” …Liberty University3 min readLiberty University3 min read
May 11, 2020Member-onlyWhy Racist Trolls Are Worse than RacistsRacist trolls are not racists. They are trolls who use racism to fan the culture wars and they’re good at it. Racism is terrible but when people resort to using racism for ulterior motives, things turn truly dark. Let me explain why I make this claim. We all know how…Ahmaudarbery3 min readAhmaudarbery3 min read
Apr 9, 2020Member-onlyPushed Out of the World: A Reflection on Bonhoeffer’s Martyrdom 75 years ago todayThis is a meditation I wrote on Bonhoeffer’s martyrdom, written for and published in “Bonhoeffer’s Chrism Mass.” . . . Bonhoeffer died… and then he rose again. “Resurrection?” — in the words of theologians, students, and believers, all having stared into the abyss of his martyrdom wondering what might have…Bonhoeffer3 min readBonhoeffer3 min read
Mar 15, 2020Member-onlyCorona, God, and Human Freedom: Doing Theology in Times of a PandemicAs is always the case with major globe-encompassing events that loom as dark menacing clouds at the horizon of humanity’s future, would-be prophets and self-proclaimed men of God fill us in on the latest concoctions from the religious department. — I just witnessed Kenneth (Copious) Copeland heal donors of his ministry from Corona from the safe confines of his TV studio while Jim Bakker is using his ministry to sell a fake medicine against the dreaded virus. (He is now being sued by the State of Missouri, btw.) And I…Corona17 min readCorona17 min read
Jan 23, 2020Member-onlyWhy I Dropped the Label of Evangelical and Why You Should TooOn January 17, Ron Sider, an evangelical theologian famous for his insistence that rich Christians make work of addressing poverty, posted on a piece on his blog titled “ STILL EVANGELICAL IN SPITE OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S EVANGELICAL SUPPORTERS? …Christianity6 min readChristianity6 min read
Dec 22, 2019Member-onlyAnd the Flesh became Word: Reversing the IncarnationHow we have forgotten the way Christmas works Christmas 2019. Christians around the world celebrate that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Feelings of wonder fill us and hope, perhaps, that this enfleshment will somehow materialize into something more substantial than a promise, a light in the darkness, a hope, ever so faint, that the coming…Christianity7 min readChristianity7 min read
Oct 25, 2019Member-onlyRadical Theology and the Theology of the Cross: A Christian Tradition of SubversionIntroduction Martin Luther’s theology of the cross though central to the German Reformation did not manage to remain a big influence in the Protestant tradition. Traditions other than Lutheranism sprang up: Calvinism, Anglicanism and soon after that Puritans, Baptists, Methodists and an entire slew of revivalist, holiness and Pentecostal groups joined…Christianity19 min readChristianity19 min read
Aug 31, 2019Member-onlyEmotional and Spiritual Abuse in the Church: the Systemization of GodThe systemization of God leads to harm being done to people in the areas of sexual ethics, emotional dependency, and communal justice. In the previous installment of my two-part series on emotional and spiritual abuse in the church, I discussed a foundational thought-pattern in many religious communities related to divine…Christianity10 min readChristianity10 min read
Jun 11, 2019Member-onlyEmotional and Spiritual Abuse in the Church (I): the Divine Authority SyndromeEmotional and spiritual abuse in the church often results from wrong ideas about how divine authority functions within the faith community. It is often wielded as a tool to suppress, exploit, and dominate gullible believers. This article aims to show the deeply theological connections between abuse and religious authority. …Christianity8 min readChristianity8 min read
