I appreciate Braxton Wade’s BNG piece, “When the Church Confuses Vocation with Calling” and his challenge for churches to open themselves to the Spirit’s unveiling of a pastor who comes clothed in skin or gender not usually recognized as conveying…
In conversation with Bart D. Ehrman
Bart D. Ehrman is an acclaimed scholar and New York Times bestselling author who looks at New Testament texts, early Christianity and the historical Jesus. I was introduced to his work in seminary 20 years ago, and I continue to…
Why Canadian evangelicals don’t like Trump
I must begin by admitting that, yes, some Canadian evangelicals actually do like Donald Trump. There is, for instance, a push in the western province of Alberta (where I was raised) to secede from Canada. The leaders of the secession…
Training bold prophets: A conversation with Shonda Jones
What are the religious and racial aspects of liberating U.S. democracy from authoritarianism? A recent conference at United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia addressed this question. En route to the conference, I saw a social media post quoting conservative commentator Megan…
Understanding therapeutic support for pastors and church leaders
Pastoral ministry is not confined to a schedule or a single day of the week; it is carried quietly and consistently across the rhythms of everyday life. It shows up in phone calls answered late at night, hospital rooms entered…
What does Amos say about Israel and Gaza?
As the saga in Gaza continued to unfold, Israel partially opened the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. While the opening has allowed some medical evacuations and limited returns, it is a modest change when set against the scale…
What if we’re experiencing one giant extinction burst?
I had lunch with a friend a few days ago, and the conversation inevitably turned to what is happening in our body politic. She then said something I can’t stop thinking about: “What if what’s happening in our country is…
We have not been called to be evangelical assimilators
For 21 years of my professional life, I spent my time trying to assimilate into the white evangelical church. As I look back at all those years, I can remember not being enough. I was just enough to get hired…
No kindness, no democracy
Seventy-four years ago, on April 8, 1952, President Harry Truman went on national radio and television to announce he had issued Executive Order 10340, authorizing the United States government to seize the nation’s steel mills. Eighteen months earlier, China had…
Who will tell Trump’s he’s not God’s anointed?
When Thomas Dewey went to sleep on election night in 1948, he was the president-elect. The Chicago Tribune already had sealed the deal with the headline, “Dewey Defeats Truman.” But early in the morning as the election results were tabulated,…
Conversing with Jesus in time of war, 2026
We have as a nation entered into yet another war, this one in Iran. War places special stresses on the Christian conscience, especially when the war is defended as “preemptive,” that is, a war in anticipation of an attack, to…
The real reason for the Iranian strike? Padding political pocketbooks
The famed “cowboy philosopher” and social commentator Will Rogers once observed, “The short memory of the American voter is what keeps our politicians in office.” Lest we forget, however, that on Nov. 10, 2013, Donald Trump tweeted: “Remember that I…