There are two kinds of Christians: those who are comfortable with some version of traditional orthodoxy, and those who worry that their religion has gone off the rails. Bishop N.T. Wright (“Tom” to his friends) belongs in the second category….
A thing that money could buy: How corporate evangelicalism elected a president
If religion were a thing that money could buy the rich would live, and the poor would die (Bahamian folk song) Darren Grem wrote The Business of Blessing before Donald Trump’s stunning electoral triumph, but the book helps explain the…
Wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger
If you have seen Will Ferrell’s Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, it’s hard to hear Luke’s Christmas story without thinking of the “baby Jesus grace.” Ricky Bobby is a driver not a thinker, and it shows. “Dear lord…
Jesus, Trump and the American Dream
The election is over and the season of recrimination begins. Donald Trump will be president, some say, because rural white America is a sinkhole of fundamentalist racism. Others blame the outcome on the aloof arrogance of a latte-swilling “coastal elite”…
Jesus and John Wayne: Must we choose?
Evangelical support for Donald Trump should come as no surprise. The Republican candidate is the personification of idealized white manhood, an iconic American in the mold of John Wayne. For evangelical leaders of a certain age, that makes him the…
Joshua vs Jesus: Why white evangelicals love Donald Trump
Almost 80 percent of white American evangelicals plan to vote for Donald Trump, a twice-divorced womanizer who made his name building and gilding casinos. A man who insults Hispanics, Muslims, African Americans, women, and anyone else who disagrees with him….
Why white America silences Jesus
“So what’s your religion?” the young man wanted to know. “My ancestors were Anabaptists,” I said, “and I find myself identifying with that tradition.” “So, what’s an Anabaptist?” “Well, they are sometimes called the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation,”…
In praise of compromise: Reflections on a very strange election
Way back in April, Barack Obama told a CBS reporter, “The single most important question I’m asked these days from other world leaders is ‘What’s going on with your elections?’” I don’t rub shoulders with world leaders, but my Canadian…
Will LGBTQ inclusion be the death of the CBF?
In a recent reflection piece stimulated by America’s birthday, David Gushee shared this snapshot of a divided America: “We are at least two different countries — a conservative, largely white, somewhat older, largely Christian country with a center of gravity…