Politics & Society
The bad king
Nimrod is the biblical archetype of the corrupt leader obsessed with his own power.
The power of charismatic narrative
Why has the authority of American elites been swept aside? Historian Molly Worthen argues that it’s because they failed as storytellers.
This political moment demands theology
As Christians, we need to protest authoritarianism and support the people it targets. We also need to underscore the deep foundations of this work.
New York’s Muslim mayor
The spotlight on Zohran Mamdani’s campaign also illuminated a pervasive fear of the other in our political discourse.
Is fascism inherently Christian?
Antifascist writers of the last century grappled with the same bewilderment we do—and they made sense of their politics theologically.
Advent in all its terror
If we remove the difficult facts of history leading up to Jesus’ birth, the story loses its power.
Before cancel culture, there was damnatio memoriae
Rome’s political erasures were a precursor to today’s contested US history.
The social gospel of the streets
Sean Dempsey traces the moral imagination that guided faith-based activists in Los Angeles through five decades of justice work.
I’m dreaming of a disarmed faith
In the Bethlehem cattle stall, no coercion is in the air. No imposition of will.
A tale of two Thanksgivings
Two adjacent items in a 1943 issue of The Saturday Evening Post highlight the conflict—and joy—inherent in our mythic meal.
Practicing patience in difficult times
I want to be able to take my days and transform them into beauty. This fall in Chicago, it has felt like time is running out.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s biggest question
One Battle After Another explores what it means to find agency in a world we can’t control.
Learning from people who can’t quit
Musicians never stop being musicians. I hope it’s the same for justice seekers.
A day of mourning each November
I have been asked more than once to participate in civic Thanksgiving services. And more than once, I’ve declined.
What history are we making?
I remember when my son first asked me what history is. I told him it’s the story we write with our lives.
Pastors in exile
Clergy who have fled Russian-occupied Ukraine are finding new ways to provide pastoral care for parishioners who are still there.
When Caesar gets demanding
“What will be God’s,” asks Tertullian, “if all things are Caesar’s?” It’s a challenging question at a time when the state is asking us to acquiesce to a secret, unaccountable police force.
Shared songs with new meaning
My colleague’s Black church was taking a break from anti-racism work with White churches. So we decided to sing together.
God’s relentless gaze
Like the surveillance state, the Christ Pantocrator icon asserts an omnipresent authority. But it also asserts divine mercy and love.