When Faithfulness to God Hurts Our Neighbor
Whatever our exegesis of scripture and tradition may suggest, it is imperative that we take into account the pain and damage our religious piety causes to others. Is our perception of divine...
View ArticleSongs of Desire: Relating to the Other
The Song of Songs can shape, through its theme of sexual desire, our mode of being and the way we relate to the world. Through the lovers’ interaction, it teaches that desire is first and foremost a...
View ArticleFarewell to the Flesh
Paul's "Flesh/Spirit" dichotomy is not an overly-spiritualized, anti-body othering (i.e., a devaluation of the body against supposedly holy disembodiment) but an ethical cleavage with profoundly...
View ArticleWhen we serve the least among us, we serve God
God’s call is not to engage in politics of personal power or self-service, but engage in a politics of liberation, one that ends the idolatrous hold on power so many have. Source
View ArticleThe Scandalous and Subversive Kingdom
Given the precarious nature of the planet we call home, the need for a scandalous and subversive kingdom animated by the Spirit of God, which advocates justice, mercy, compassion, and healing to the...
View ArticleWrestling With Identity
Just as Jacob’s encounter brought new beginnings and transformation for him, embracing our true identities can lead to a powerful ripple effect within our communities. By cultivating a culture of...
View ArticleThe Loneliness of the Zealot
In our zeal for the projects to which we commit ourselves, especially when we see them as responding to God’s call upon our lives, we risk a myopia that obscures our perception of other realities....
View ArticleBreaking Barriers from Our Background
We all learn ways of negotiating life from our histories, families, religions, and our broader society. These passages suggest that some of what we learn can be deadly to our siblings and our...
View ArticleTyranny is Nothing New (Nor is Resistance)
Through confrontational or subversive tactics, God empowers human agents to restore God’s liberating and salvific will for the creation. Source
View ArticleA God who Liberates
The Exodus event and the liberation of slaves from Egypt is not only the foundational story of Israel’s identity, it is also meant to be the key to understanding who God is in Hebrew Scriptures. Let...
View ArticleWhose Sword?
Psalm 149 is not a blank check for our passionate pursuit of personal vengeance. Quite the contrary! It places a sword in the hand of only those who have recognized YHWH’s ultimate kingship. Source
View ArticleTrustworthy Testimony
The capacious and eternal love of God is neither a verifiable fact nor an opinion, but a theological truth-claim, staked on trust in Jesus as a credible witness. Christians who believe in such love...
View ArticleThe Laborers are Many, the Jobs are Few
If we are willing to listen to those standing around without work, however, a new possibility emerges. Why are they standing around without work? “Because no one has hired us,” they reply (Matthew...
View ArticlePower, Freedom, and the Humility of Christ
In this hymnic account of Jesus’ person and mission, his preference for and service to others becomes a paradigm for faithful human existence. God’s solidarity with the human race discloses the truth...
View ArticleSabbath as Freedom
The Sabbath commandment is a word of freedom and of resistance to an economic system that is destructive to ourselves and our planet. Source
View ArticleThe 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...
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