Four of the nation’s leading observers of faith, culture and public life are sharing their latest research and writing in a new online space designed to spark thoughtful discussion about the most challenging issues facing U.S. democracy and society.
Diana Butler Bass, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jemar Tisby and Robert P. Jones recently launched “The Convocation,” a weekly Substack combining fresh contributions and previously published selections from their individual Substack publishing platforms. The project also includes “The Convocation Unscripted,” an occasional video podcast the authors use to unpack their writings.
“We all saw a need, particularly as we move into the last half of this year into this very contentious election cycle, to explore the intersection of religion and culture and history and politics, all of which will be front and center in the coming months,” said Jones, president of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of books on race and religion in America, including the The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: and the Path to a Shared American Future.
The high-profile scholars are friends and colleagues who have appeared in numerous webinars and other forums devoted to issues of public theology, Christian nationalism and the history and sociology of religious belief and behavior in the U.S.
Robert P. Jones
“We are longtime fellow travelers who end up on calls with each other just to check in about what’s going on and what we are working on,” said Jones, who pitched the Substack concept to Bass, Du Mez and Tisby. “We thought it would be helpful to make a public space for the kinds of conversations we are already having.”
Bass is a former college and seminary professor turned historian, speaker and writer whose work has appeared in publications such as The Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times, and whose many books include the bestseller Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way and Presence.
Du Mez is a professor of gender, religion and politics at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich., and author of the bestselling book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.
Tisby, a history professor at Simmons College of Kentucky, is a speaker and writer on issues of racial justice and is the author of numerous books including the bestseller The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism.
Tisby said his contributions to “The Convocation” will reflect the topics of religion, politics and white Christian nationalism he focuses on in his own Substack, “Footnotes by Jemar Tisby.”
Jemar Tisby
“I just published a post on the time when Jerry Falwell called Bishop Desmond Tutu a phony. For me, history is about following my curiosity,” Tisby said during the introductory podcast. “This happened back in 1985 and I was like, ‘Hmm, that seems pretty significant.’ So, I just did some research on it and just posted the research on Substack. It was just one of these curiosities.”
It will be exciting to see where the collaborative Substack goes as the contributors explore the dimensions of “Christians behaving badly” through the lenses of history, sociology and personal experiences, he said.
Du Mez said she’s been tracking “very overt commentary” in Christian nationalist circles deriding truth while attempting to “rehab” the Bible to conform to far-right ideologies. “In influential conservative Christian spaces there is a high level of comfort with dismissing actual scholarship, actual evidence and just plain integrity.”
Kristin Du Mez
She has used her “Du Mez CONNECTIONS” Substack to share thoughts on unsettling election polling data, the power of women standing up to patriarchy and sexual abuse, and the growing disconnect between those to track such issues and the general population.
It’s inspiring to be involved in “The Convocation” where curiosity and expertise come together, she said. “I’ve been craving spaces to have conversations built on that common ground, and I find that so many of my readers are also craving accessible conversations about things that are really important and do not devolve into spin and propaganda.”
Bass was an early adopter of Substack in launching “The Cottage” four years ago as a place where those uncertain or dissatisfied with religion can explore spirituality and faith.
“What I do there is me, and I think that that’s the best way to explain it,” she said. “There is a huge part of me that cares deeply about people’s spiritual lives and quite honestly, the Christian faith and preaching and the Bible and all of those beautiful, shaping kinds of practices that have helped form 2,000 years’ worth of communities throughout the world.”
Diana Butler Bass
Bass said she agreed to participate in “The Convocation” because her fellow participants are on her “most admired colleagues list” and to offer alternatives to unhealthy interpretations of the Bible. “What I’m trying to do in my Substack is give people a different door into Scripture that closes the door on white Christian nationalism and opens the door toward a better kind of Christian faith.”
Jones said he created his “White Too Long by Robert P. Jones” Substack to continue the theme of his bestselling book. “But it continues to be a kind of broad space where I’m writing about truth telling, repair and healing from the legacy of white supremacy in American Christianity. I have a lot of history, but also sort of ping pong back and forth between historical theological analysis and sociological analysis with the latest data and numbers.”
The Substack platform enables writers to quickly publish conversational pieces grounded in research, Jones said. “It’s a way you can connect with a set of readers who are interested in what you are writing about, and it helps create a personal relationship with a reading community.”