RTD: Walter Brueggemann on Michael Walzer’s “In God’s Shadow: Politics in the...
[The the first of three posts this week on Michael Walzer's "In God's Shadow: Politics in the Hebrew Bible."] Michael Walzer occupies a distinctive place in political interpretation. He is a...
View ArticleRTD 3: Michael Walzer Responds to Bruggemann and Morgenstern
I It was never my intention to try to figure out “how political institutions actually functioned in biblical times”—as Mira Morgenstern suggests I was trying to do. That is work for the historian, not...
View ArticleEaster Courage: The Politics of Acts 5:27-32
The tale of doubting Thomas will be heard from pulpits around the nation this second Sunday in Easter. The memorable tale displays a powerfully human character, one who shares our doubts about the...
View ArticleThe 23rd Psalm in an Age of Terror: A Pastoral Response to Boston
It all comes flooding back. One minute you feel safe and secure, like you can go about your business without a care for anything except maybe another recession, and the next thing you know all the...
View ArticleThe Politics of Beloved Community Read Through Acts 11:1-18 and John 13:31–35
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35 Albeit five Sundays into the Easter season, today’s text comes from the portion of John’s gospel...
View ArticleStanding in Witness
Pastors are told all the time that we shouldn’t be political, or at least this pastor hears it. It is usually said by people who don’t agree with my politics, because the people who like my political...
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 ArticleBook (P)review – Religion, Politics and the Earth by Clayton Crockett and...
[Clayton Crockett, University of Central Arkansas, and Jeffrey W. Robbins, Lebanon Valley College, on their co-authored book, Religion, Politics and the Earth: The New Materialism, Palgrave Macmillan,...
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 Limits of Drones, the Law, and Obama
President Obama’s recent speech at the National Defense University was billed as a major speech on US counterterrorism policy, especially on drones and Guantanamo. The New York Times was among those...
View ArticleVoting Rights and the Spirit
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was an extraordinary piece of legislation. Its passage was catalyzed by the activism of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the community organizing of countless individuals,...
View ArticleBook Review – Clayton Crockett, Deleuze Beyond Badiou
Clayton Crockett’s Deleuze Beyond Badiou is more than a commentary on Badiou’s reading of Deleuze or a defense of Deleuze. It is, rather, a transdisciplinary work that crosses the domains of theology,...
View ArticleSame-Sex Marriage in the Supreme Court—Michael J. Perry
DOMA’s exclusion of same-sex marriages violated equal protection, the Court ruled, because the exclusion was based on a demeaning view of same-sex marriages—a view of such marriages as, in the words of...
View ArticleSurveillance, the Church, and the Prophet’s Mantle
This post takes the form of a critical response to “First They Came for the Whistleblowers,” an op-ed by my friend Chris Iosso over at Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice....
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 ArticleThe Politics of Scripture: Luke 12:32-40—MaryAnn McKibben Dana
Today is the 14th “Moral Monday” in North Carolina. Each week, progressive religious leaders in the state are protesting budget cuts that they claim are disproportionately affecting the poor and...
View ArticleThe Politics of Beloved Community Read Through Acts 11:1-18 and John 13:31–35
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35 Albeit five Sundays into the Easter season, today’s text comes from the portion of John’s gospel...
View ArticleStanding in Witness
Pastors are told all the time that we shouldn’t be political, or at least this pastor hears it. It is usually said by people who don’t agree with my politics, because the people who like my political...
View Article100 Years of Political Theology: A Caribbean Perspective (by Ramon Luzarraga)
From the editor: We continue our series of “Top 10 lists,” offering different perspectives on the field of political theology in response to Ted Smith’s “Political Theology Start-up Kit” posted last...
View ArticleChristian Theology, Born of the Light of Faith: A Response to Paul Griffiths
Summer is normally a quiet time when theologians retreat to their library carrels or beach front cottages for research, writing, and contemplation, but this summer has started with a bang in Catholic...
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