By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Close observers of our U.S. federal government agree that due to the very strange rhythms of national politics, comprehensive immigration reform — defined as a bill that includes some path to legal status for undocumented…
The death penalty system is broken
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Oftentimes Christians deal with contemporary moral issues in the abstract. They are “against abortion” or “for peace” or “against divorce” in the abstract. They attempt to reason directly from what they understand to be…
A Tribute to Glen Stassen
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee My friend Glen Stassen died today (Saturday, April 26) in Pasadena. He was 78. But because he was born on Leap Day—February 29, 1936—Glen liked to joke that he was only 19. Until an…
That pesky word ‘Evangelical’
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Each week someone in the news uses the words “evangelical” or “evangelicalism” as a description, epithet or lament. Often the most visible uses of the term occur when someone who is “in” wants out,…
Holy Week reflection: Toward a humble, repentant church
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Holy Week converges for me with the conclusion of a semester in which I have been teaching seminar courses about the Holocaust and about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This week the brilliant Bonhoeffer scholar Jennifer McBride…
Do for-profit corporations have religious liberties?
By David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee The now-famous Hobby Lobby (HL) case finally has been argued before the Supreme Court, with a decision expected in June. I believe their claim should be denied. Here is my analysis. It…
Stripped of power: Saying goodbye to Christian America, part III
David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee Last week I explored the potential downside of the demise of Christian influence in America. I suggested that U.S. culture continues to live on borrowed ethical capital from the Christian theological tradition, but…
The ‘ex-SBC’ trilogy: A response to my respondents
David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee We have a beloved expression in our family: “stirrin’ up the pot.” This phrase emerged from the mouth of our mischievous son when he was about 11. It referred to his occasional forays…
Don’t celebrate just yet: Saying goodbye to Christian America, part II
By David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee In my last article, I suggested that realism demands that we “say goodbye to Christian America,” because it is passing. I intended to join neither those who wholly celebrate this fact nor…
Saying goodbye to Christian America
By David P. Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee One day in a doctoral seminar at Union Seminary, my ethics mentor Larry Rasmussen said words I will never forget: “There are advantages and disadvantages in every power position for the…
Where do we go from here: The ex-SBC, part III
By David Gushee Follow David on Twitter: @dpgushee My description and diagnosis of the lack of theological identity and clarity in the ex-SBC world seems to have struck a chord. I don’t hear any dissenting analysis, though perhaps it exists…
Blurry vision and how we got here: The ex-SBC, part II
By David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee Given the wide conversation sparked by my last column, about the lack of theological clarity and identity found in that slice of the U. S. Christian community that became ex-Southern Baptist, I…