Beth Allison Barr holds the James Vardaman Chair in History at Baylor University. She is the New York Times bestselling author of the new book Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry and…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Yolanda Pierce
Yolanda Pierce serves as dean of the Divinity School and Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair of Religion and Literature at Vanderbilt University. One of America’s vital theologians, Pierce was founding director of the Center for African American Religious Life at the Smithsonian…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Rep. James Talarico
James Talarico was Texas’ youngest statewide elected official when he entered the Texas House in 2019. His mixture of bona fides — Democrat, devout Christian, former school teacher, Presbyterian seminarian — quickly attracted national attention, and many of his speeches…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Malcolm Foley
Malcolm Foley is a historian whose doctoral work centered on lynchings and the church’s response to them. The pastor of Mosaic Waco and special advisor to the president for Equity and Campus Engagement at Baylor University is helping to drive…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Jonathan Eig
Jonathan Eig is the New York Times bestselling author of six books, including Ali: A Life, Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning King: A Life. His biography of King is thought of by…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Greg Jarrell
Greg Jarrell is a writer, ordained minister, jazz musician, and BNG contributor living in the intentional QC Family Tree community in Charlotte, N.C.’s, Enderly Park region — which one Reddit thread describes as noisy because of airplanes and gunshots. But…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Robert G. Callahan II
Robert G. Callahan II is a writer, attorney, theologian and law professor at Baylor University. In 2020, Callahan was named Lawyer of the Year by the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association. His recent book Fire in the Whole: Embracing Our…
100 years of James Baldwin: We are our history
James Baldwin was my exact age — 63 — when he died in 1987. At the time of his death, he had written essential novels, plays and essays and had given a multitude of powerful speeches, including a 1965 debate…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Andrea Russell
Gladstone’s Library is a remarkable institution, a residential research library in Northern Wales that was founded by four-time British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. Last month, I taught a course at the Library with Oxford University’s Professor of Black Theology…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Bishop Michael Curry
Michael Curry was elected 27th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in 2015, after previously serving as bishop of North Carolina. One of America’s most-renowned preachers, he is perhaps most widely known for his sermon at the “royal wedding” of…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Melissa Deckman
Melissa Deckman is a political scientist studying gender, religion and American politics. The author of the wondrous new book The Politics of Gen Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape Our Democracy from Columbia Press, she also is CEO of…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Matthew D. Taylor
Matthew D. Taylor is author of The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement that Is Threatening Our Democracy, a brilliant and deep dive into the world of charismatic American Christians who planted the seeds for January 6 and…