The Cost of Dissent
Jesus’ parable identifies chosenness in those who resist, dissent, protest and refuse the invitations of the empire. Source
View ArticleChristian Nationalism’s Superstition Problem
Christian nationalism is a form of superstition. It is superstitious because, instead of appealing to the God of all nations, it appeals to a culturally fabricated God for cultural privilege, power,...
View ArticleOn “Blessedness”
Rather than read it prescriptively to justify my own identification as a “righteous Christian,” I now read this passage for what it is: a poem that describes the resilience of a people who found true...
View ArticleRight Nightmares
Those who commit dehumanizing acts of violence—whether through physical harm, abusive exploitation, or benign neglect—themselves become debased and subhuman, even as they sit in positions of power....
View ArticleChoosing God, Choosing Lands, Choosing Peoples
Choosing God, choosing lands, and choosing the peoples one lives with, both then and now, is no easy task. Nevertheless, the good news, while not always easy or comforting, is that the borders of our...
View ArticleRedeeming Refusal
The third slave, as truth-teller and whistle-blower, validates what Jesus’ listeners know about their reality. They know that the deck is stacked against them, if they choose to buck the system. Source
View ArticleThe Potential of Creative Misinterpretation
Perhaps the tension between honest reading and creative liberatory “misinterpretation” should not be solved at all but rather retained as an unsettling force in our work. Source
View ArticleAdvent is a Time of Learning the Skill of Waiting
Hope orients one to look beyond the horizon of suffering and to see the resilient light of new beginnings. Source
View ArticleWaiting as a Spiritual (and Political) Practice
The author of 2 Peter maintains that in order to wait well one must place trust in God and God’s promises (3:13). What sets a follower of Christ apart in the communities to which this epistle is...
View ArticleThe World Turned Upside Down
Mary, an unmarried peasant girl, is pregnant. Though scarcely an intimidating figure, her words in the song ascribed to her in Luke’s Gospel—known as “The Magnificat”—ought to make those of us who are...
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