“Citizens with the Saints” The Politics of Ephesians 2:11-22
The author of Ephesians is addressing the conflict between Jew and Gentile Christians (“the cut/circumcised” and “the uncut/uncircumcised”). The politics of this text could be boiled down to the first...
View ArticleGreed is Not Good: The Politics of 2 Samuel 12:1-7
While the abuses of power and privilege in modern banking may not be as explicit as David’s crime, they are parallel. People in power tend not to consider the cost of their self-interest in communal...
View ArticleLord to whom shall we go? The politics of John 6:56-69
John's gospel is replete with splendid imagery of the saving power of Jesus, so much so that it can be easy to wonder how the disciples could have even considered turning away from Jesus, even at the...
View ArticleWelcoming the Child: The Politics of Mark 9:30-37
It seems easy. So easy we can almost brush it off. Smile approvingly at the Sunday School teacher seated across the aisle from us in worship, and check one more thing off our spiritual to-do-list....
View ArticlePower as a Zero-Sum Game: The Politics of John 8:31-36
In contemporary Western society we like to pride ourselves on having done away with what we would term ‘archaic’ systems, such as slavery. And so, when we hear such a system mentioned or even alluded...
View ArticleThe Politics of Christ as King (Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Revelation 1:4b-8; John...
Increasingly in liturgical circles it is becoming politically incorrect to talk about the “kingship” of Christ. Such a term now brings with it all the baggage of patriarchal interpretations of the...
View ArticleThe Sacred Economy: An Outline
Since my major study, The Sacred Economy, is almost complete, I thought it would be useful to put together a brief outline. The main purpose of the book is to offer a new reconstruction of the...
View ArticleThe Politics of the Trinity
1 + 1 + 1 = 1 … I’ve seen pastors write it on chalk boards, I’ve stood in the pulpit pondering whether this might be the one day in which my poor math skills actually work to my advantage, but at the...
View ArticleThe Politics of Luke 8:26-39
“Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear.” (Luke 8:37a) Fear plagues us. Like children convinced there are...
View ArticleThe Politics of Elijah: Struggling with Elijah’s Legacy (2Kings 2: 1-2, 6-14)
We are the heirs of Elijah’s legacy. His influence is evident within later writings of the Bible, the Bible’s earliest commentators, and within the Bible-shaped parts of our own culture. But how might...
View ArticleThe Politics of Parenting (Luke 11:1-13)
“And he answers, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’” I am a breast-feeding, co-sleeping mother of two....
View ArticleHow to Read Ancient Texts
I would like to make a modest proposal for reading ancient texts like the Bible. Of course, I am by no means the first or last to make such a suggestion. But my interest is quiet specific: how might...
View ArticleBook Preview – Understanding The Rhetorical Forms of the Culture Wars...
Cathleen Kaveeny. Prophecy Without Contempt: Religious Discourse in the Public Square. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2016. Hardcover. 464 pp. ISBN-10:0674495039. The following is a book...
View ArticleChristian Political Theology Needs To Grow Up And Become A Real Discipline...
Contemporary Christian political theology presents a rather confusing picture. A cacophony of voices offers conflicting accounts of what the Bible says about politics and what a normative Christian...
View ArticleFrom Hope To A Revolution Of Love (Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty)
The following is the second of a series of articles under a general symposium title of “Being Church in the Age of Trump,” which will appear in hard copy in January as part of the fall/winter edition...
View ArticleUndocumented Immigrants and the Bible: A Reply to Gehring and Hoffmeier...
We are in the closing days of National Migration Week (Jan. 8-14), the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual period focused on reflecting on the lives of immigrants and refugees. This...
View ArticleHow To Do Things Better With Words In An Era Of Political Polarization (Jake...
The following is the sixth of a series of articles under a general symposium title of “Being Church in the Age of Trump,” which will appear in hard copy in January as part of the fall/winter edition of...
View ArticleWhy Christians Should Reject The Nashville Statement On Sexuality (Daniel...
In a perfect world, thoughtful Christians would be able to ignore the recently published Nashville Statement. Produced under the auspices of the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the document...
View ArticleThe Politics of Elijah: Struggling with Elijah’s Legacy (2Kings 2: 1-2, 6-14)
We are the heirs of Elijah’s legacy. His influence is evident within later writings of the Bible, the Bible’s earliest commentators, and within the Bible-shaped parts of our own culture. But how might...
View ArticleThe Politics of Parenting (Luke 11:1-13)
“And he answers, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’” I am a breast-feeding, co-sleeping mother of two....
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