Latest Articles
Lydia Millet’s A Children’s Bible is a believable climate fable
The dystopian novel feels about 15 minutes away from becoming reality.
Talking to white kids about what whiteness means
Three children’s books to help start the conversation
July 12, 15A (Romans 8:1–11)
What if all the energy we spent on taming the flesh were channeled toward loving the world?
I don’t forgive the man who murdered my cousin DePayne at Mother Emanuel
To insist on a narrative of forgiveness is dehumanizing and violent. It goes against the very nature of lament.
Why are so many white Christians suddenly standing up for racial justice?
It might help that our pews aren’t available to sit in and pray.
The gift of nurturing small things during isolation
What deep desire do my sourdough starter and jade clippings represent?
UMC musician’s protest hymn goes viral
Many United Methodist clergy gave Pentecost Sunday sermons on the scourge of racism, prompted by the latest high-profile killing of a black man in police custody....
Nigerian Catholic bishops donate 425 hospitals for COVID-19 treatment
With the increasing rate of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria, the Catholic community is responding and supporting the government’s efforts to combat the virus....
Ella Jones elected first black mayor of Ferguson
On June 2, former pastor Ella Jones was elected mayor of Ferguson, Missouri, with 54 percent of the votes cast. Jones currently serves as the council member for Ferguson Ward 1....
Southern Baptist Convention president faces criticism for new church hire
Since the beginning of 2019, Southern Baptist Convention president J. D....
Liberty University instructor resigns after Jerry Falwell Jr.'s blackface tweet
A day after Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University in Virginia, tweeted an image of a face mask depicting figures in blackface and dressed as Klansmen, Christopher House, an online inst...
Made right (11 A; Romans 5:1-8)
I fear we may reject the justification metaphor too quickly and understand it too shallowly.
Imagination as a lens for making sense of the world
Cultivating a shared Christian imagination
The coronavirus lockdown was doomed before the mass protests began
Its demise came from the same system that killed George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
The Beyoncé Mass places black women’s stories at the center—and proclaims God’s love
The music gets people in the door. Yolanda Norton’s preaching might be what sticks to their bones.
James Baldwin reminds us not to be surprised by this
Facing the “intolerable trouble” of antiblack violence
The coronavirus is helping us rehearse for our own deaths
“A lot of people want to talk about the big questions; they just don’t know how to get started.”
A non-Christian’s argument for Christianity’s positive influence
Tom Holland doesn’t shout that secularists have no clothes. He whispers that they bear a Christian label.
The urgent need for deep changes in American policing
Are the police meant to protect people? Or to fight them?
The best judges of my theology are the littlest ones
The questions that plunge me into a cloud of unknowing most often come from my Sunday school students.