Luther’s phrase, “The saints have no extra credits,” reminds us that the practice of selling indulgences didn’t end with the Reformation. Consider William Barr’s recent “religious liberty” speech at Notre Dame Law School.
‘Broken Churches, Broken Nation’: Yes, Pastor Jeffress, words do ‘mean something’
If words really do “mean something,” as Robert Jeffress asserted, correctly, then the rhetoric of “civil war,” “treason” or “coup” used by president, pastor or any of us is not only divisive but dangerous.
Beto O’Rourke’s debate invective and the new ‘Back to School’ video are the jeremiads of our time
Firearms aren’t on the slippery slope; the American people are. We’re the ones whose kids are scared to go to school.
Churches in America: too fragile to fight (at least with each other)
The American Church is in crisis, largely because of multiple crises, few of which are momentary. We’re in it for the long haul.
‘It feels like being hunted’: American churches, mass shootings and ‘the slaughter of the innocents’
It’s a question we have asked countless times: have we reached a turning point? Do our faith communities, whose history began at the place of the skull and the killing fields of a Roman coliseum, have a will or a witness for our assault-weapon-proliferated, executionary times?
‘Send her back!’ A racist call-and-response compels white Christians to ask hard questions
This isn’t just about the law or the president. It’s about us, the “white us,” engaged in actions with frightening implications for, with or about white Christianity, compelling us to ask hard questions of our churches and each other.
WWJDD: What Would James Dunn Do? America on July 4, 2019
Had James Dunn lived to witness this year’s Fourth of July event – hijacked by President Trump – he would have let his freedom of dissent ring loud and clear. At this moment in the history of American Christianity and American government, Dunn’s distinctive gospel dissent needs to be heard and heeded.
The Color of Compromise: American Christianity’s legacy of racism calls for ‘repentance and repair’
In his new book, The Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby documents the ways in which white Christians, churches and religious institutions inside and outside the South manifested, acquiesced to and facilitated racist responses to people of color in general and African Americans in particular.
‘Doesn’t anyone want to be baptized anymore?’ The ‘tangibilifying’ grace of baptism
Faith and baptism are intricately related. Faith keeps baptism from becoming simply a magic ritual for fulfilling a salvific requirement; while baptism keeps faith from becoming simply an individual experience. It unites us with God’s new community, the Church.