As sociologist Orrin Klapp observed in his 1962 book Heroes, Villains, and Fools: The Changing American Character, “The celebrity cult celebrates the triumph of ordinariness — charm without character, showmanship without ability, bodies without minds, information without wisdom.” The critique…
Racism is a series of lies
What precisely is so bad about racism? Part of me hopes I ask this question to a sympathetic audience who knows something is wrong with how we view race. But perhaps you can’t quite put your finger on what is…
Truth on the scaffold: Bonhoeffer’s witness to American Christians today
Anyone watching the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency can see that truth itself is on the scaffold. Bonhoeffer’s life and thought gives us a lens to see our present dilemma as a nation and church. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is among the…
Donald Trump’s January 6 insurrection is now a coup
On Feb. 2, private actors reportedly employed by Elon Musk took over U.S. Treasury computer systems that control the nation’s payments for government benefits. That action followed a Trump-ordered takeover of the USAID independent federal agency responsible for distributing foreign…
Two versions of Christianity cross swords at the National Cathedral
On Jan.21, President Donald Trump and a thousand invited guests filed into Washington’s National Cathedral to take part in “A Service of Prayer for the Nation.” The lengthy service (it clocked in at two hours and 18 minutes) featured Scripture…
Presidents, pardons, prevarications and (women) preachers
On Jan. 20, the newly inaugurated 47th president of the United States of America issued a presidential pardon to about 1,600 individuals who, on January 6, 2021, illegally broke into the U.S. Capitol, mercilessly beat Capitol police, threatened Congress members…
Glenn Hinson: ‘What he taught us in his lectures was learned in his own life’
On Jan. 29, a spiritual giant died quietly, yet with the force that reflected all of his life. Glenn Hinson was a Baptist professor in the fields of church history and spirituality. He was on the frontlines of the war…
A small act of resistance: On teaching while woke
I remember well the day I heard the word “woke” for the very first time. It came from the mouth of a Black scholar addressing a conference on “Public Theology and Racial Justice” at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville. It…
Black History Month in Trump’s America
In 1976, the bicentennial year celebrating the birth of our nation with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Republican President Gerald Ford became the first president to recognize February as Black History Month. In a short presidential message, Ford recognized the…
The straight white men are not all right
As each day since the presidential inauguration has passed, I’ve found myself wondering more and more, “What’s wrong with straight white men?”* I feel like we’re living some version of “Revenge of the Straight White Men” because they are so…
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…
Of ‘evangelicals,’ Jimmy Carter and Tony Campolo
“Don’t Call Him Evangelical — How to Remember Jimmy Carter’s Faith, And How Not To” was the title of the article in my email inbox. As a native Georgian, cradle roll Baptist and proud former partner in President Carter’s work…