While responding to fundamentalism is exhausting, it is essential to question its immediate impact on American church/state, particularly since fundamentalist ideology seems to have become the default interpretation many American Christians implicitly or explicitly bring to bear on questions of scripture, doctrine, church and society.
The jeremiad: good news of an unprivileged gospel
My longtime friend and mentor Samuel Hill affirmed “evangelical Christianity” for its emphasis “on righteousness, love of neighbor, disciplined behavior, and a sensitive conscience.” Restoring those now-diminished gospel traits will require strong doses of “moral chemotherapy,” beyond culture privilege. It’s worth the treatment.
Doing church in America: ‘resetting a Body of broken bones’
In American Christianity the broken bones of individual and collective division desperately need resetting.
On the border: ‘Children of a lesser god’
If Christians in America cannot raise our collective voices against our government’s treatment of these “little ones,” then we’re the ones who serve a “lesser god.”
The Wrong Kind of Jesus: From Symbol to Substance
Distinguishing Right Jesus and Wrong Jesus is hard, especially when a weaponized Christ is used – right and left of center – to intimidate or exclude each other.
The Spirit and the gifts, for the moment and for the long haul
It’s the Spirit that turns skills into gifts. Spiritual gifts can be perpetual or fluid, required at the moment or for the long haul. Gifts come and go. It’s the Spirit that remains.
Hear our prayer, O Congress: A neo-establishmentarianism?
Events surrounding the dismissal and rehiring of “Father Pat” are more than a mere legislative kerfuffle. They provide important contemporary lessons in the enduring dynamics of church-state relations — old tensions, new twists.
Waffle House, Starbucks — and the Church?: Iconic and vulnerable
In the deadly flash of that AR15, Kenny Peavy’s iconic “welcoming sanctuary,” joined the interminable company of schools, churches, schools, concerts, schools, and other once-but-no-longer-safe-places in the United States.
Signature ministries: ‘The art of human contacts’
The Catholic Worker Movement, one of the most important Christian social ministries of the modern era, began in 1933 in New York during the Great Depression. The founders, Catholic Peter Maurin and journalist/Catholic convert Dorothy Day initiated the movement, Day…