A few years ago, I delivered a keynote address for a symposium on the Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, held at Creighton University in connection with the 50th anniversary of its promulgation on Nov. 21, 1964. The fact…
Re-receiving the gift of inclusive liberty, with help from Pope Francis
This past weekend, I offered Baptist ecumenical reflections on Pope Francis’s most recent encyclical “On Fraternity and Social Friendship” (Fratelli Tutti) on the program of the Hearth for the Human Family conference sponsored by the Focolare Forum for Dialogue and…
In Georgia, demonizing Black Liberation Theology yet again
I am a Baptist theologian, and “professor of historical theology” is my specific job title. It is therefore of no little interest to me that a political controversy moving into the national spotlight involves a candidate who is a fellow…
‘Do you mean vote for the murder babies crowd?’
Last week I shared to Facebook a Washington Post story titled “White House directs federal agencies to cancel race-related training sessions it calls ‘un-American propaganda.’” I prefaced it with this: “At all levels of American society, we are confronted with…
The root of our inability to end gun violence is spiritual, but not in the way many think
Christians in America are unable to #ActTo EndGunViolence because we have intertwined the American story with the Myth of Redemptive Violence. We must be converted away from this pervasive myth by the nonviolent, suffering resistance to evil that is the Story of Jesus.
Seeking fresh light: Cooperative Baptists practicing theology
An ideal practice of theology by the church is one that depends on the illumination provided by various sources of light through which the Spirit helps us see and diverse voices through which the Spirit helps us hear what the mind of Christ is regarding our faith and practice for time and place.
How the Pope teaches
Word is out that Pope Francis’ long-awaited encyclical on the environment will be published later this month with the title Laudato Sii—“Praised Be You”—words from the Latin text of St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun. (Baptist News Global…
Savoring the ‘sacrament of the present moment,’ with a little help from The Decemberists
Christian thinking about the world we live in and God’s goals for it wrestles with a tension. What God envisions for the world is already being made manifest in the Easter reality of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and in…
Songs for pilgrims on the way
I’d told myself I wouldn’t do it this time. Writing a theological review of the latest U2 album has been de rigueur for me since offering my $0.02 on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. With increasingly credible rumors pointing to…