In the summer of 2019, I rode a bus high into the Swiss Alps, a terror ride straight out of Six Flags, to visit the most important site in American race relations that nobody knows about. In 1951, the author…
Woke, awake or unfaithful? Racism in the white church
Feb. 16-18 at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary, we convened our second national conversation about racism in the white church, “Time to Wake Up.” Although those attending were passionate about the program and online and social media comments before, during and…
‘What can we forgive?’: An interview with Matthew Ichihashi Potts on Forgiveness
I’ve been diving deep on forgiveness lately. A few weeks back, my friend Ralph Douglas West and I led a Janterm retreat for Truett Seminary students and pastors where we read works including Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies (home to the…
Where God is: Preaching the hard truths about change
Last fall on the second Sunday of Advent, I preached a sermon at the American Cathedral in Paris on change, our fear of change, the difficulties of change. And on race. It was a pretty typical sermon for Advent, that…
We don’t talk about Brittney
Last week WNBA star, Olympic gold medalist and Baylor Bear standout Brittney Griner was moved to one of Russia’s most notorious prison camps to begin serving her nine-year sentence for possession of drugs. A remarkable all-round player, she led Baylor…
A conversation with Anthony Reddie about the importance of James Cone
Last fall, I had the great honor of serving as a visiting fellow at the Oxford Center for Religion and Culture, headed by the renowned Black liberation theologian Anthony G. Reddie. Anthony and I became fast friends, and we had…
Womanhood, white Christian nationalism and Queen Elizabeth
On Thursday evening, church bells began to chime in Oxford, where I am living for much of this fall while on research leave from Baylor University. I’d planned a long writing day, but I simply sat, my front door open,…
Baldwin, Bobby and the necessity of hard conversations
I’ve been engaging in hard conversations about race for the past seven years. Sometimes I’m asked if they matter, if anything can change hearts and minds. Not long ago, a friend who is a devout Christian and a person of…
Dealing with the truth: An interview with Sarah Churchwell on Gone with the Wind, the Lost Cause and Donald Trump
Those of you who read this column are aware that I study culture, religion and political life to explore the myths by which Americans shape their lives, and that I’m particularly focused on questions of race and injustice. Knowing that,…