Week 3 (Year 3, NL)

Maybe Joseph’s brothers aren’t evil people but hurt people.

Is it possible to be completely and terribly wrong but not all bad?

For Jesus, the inverse of scarcity isn’t abundance—it’s accumulation.

If so, what did he mean?

If we take the doctrine seriously, then we dare not draw the circle of salvation along religious lines. Or any lines at all.

It’s a terrible fact that we have so many opportunities to love our enemies.

Small graces can give us hope—even in the pit.

Arthur Brooks gave the room an important assignment. President Trump turned it down.

A sneak peek at the CC staff’s Christmas gift list

The pastor and mentor to Martin Luther King formed a vision of resistance around prayer, not politics.

And that conversation’s inevitable limits

Death is inevitable for the living. It’s also a requisite for that which is yet to live.

What if I’m the cheek-slapper, the thief, the opportunist?

Lots of theologians want to challenge economic injustice. Not many draw their arguments from Anselm and Aquinas.

We gave our readers a one-word writing prompt: "enemy."

Matthew 5:38–48

A retired colonel taught me about the courage it takes to love our enemies.

Hagar’s story has often been read as if it explains some inevitable animosity among the Abrahamic faiths. We should try reading it differently.

I don't usually write about preaching or about specific Revised Common Lectionary texts, since that's well covered elsewhere on the site by people more qualified than I. This is just a quick note motivated by the fact that this Sunday's Gospel reading is the subject of one of the more startling RCL factoids that came up when I was reporting my fall article on alternate lectionaries.

Douglas Hall is likely the most influential North American theological interpreter from a Reformation perspective, especially with reference to Luther. He continues to filter his thought through his teachers Tillich and Niebuhr—but he is his own man and carries his inquiry toward the demise of Christendom.