When you have a few years on you, as I do, you start running into reruns, reboots and reiterations. How many Spider-Man movie reboots have there been since the 1970s? How many versions of Pride and Prejudice? How many efforts…
Ideology, autocracy and resistance: Assessing our US situation
As the end of the summer approaches, Congress returns to Washington, and the November elections move into their stretch run, it seems a good time to try to assess where exactly we are in terms of this second Trump administration…
What comes after ‘Post-Evangelicalism’?
I am sometimes asked why post-evangelicals have created and are retaining an identity and name that carries forward the religion we have left behind. Doesn’t that just reinscribe the trauma? Doesn’t it confuse the effort to define ourselves now? Doesn’t…
Who belongs to the nation?
It may be that the MAGA movement has fallen on hard times. Its president is faltering, with very poor approval ratings. The Iran war and the Epstein debacle have splintered the MAGA base. The administration appears to have little vision…
Reflections on In the Twilight of the Christian West
One of the things I love about my job is that I get to read many manuscripts before they enter the public arena. This is usually a request for an endorsement. Last year, I had the opportunity to consider Harvard…
The wicked are punished — or not
For about a decade, I have had a book brewing that takes on the book of Job. It is now about to come out Sept. 1. It will be called Job in Exile: A Guide for Spiritual Refugees. There are…
The permanent paradoxes of Christian thinking about war
The morality of warfare has been in the news recently. This occurs every so often, usually when the United States launches a dubious military action (like the one against Iran) and someone in the administration (like JD Vance) claims the support…
The end of white liberal Christian optimism
When Donald Trump was elected president a second time, something in me broke and has stayed broken. I now realize what broke was the version of white liberal Christian optimism I had unconsciously imbibed from my teachers and milieu. It’s…
In conversation with Logan Morrison
Nearly three years ago, I interviewed Logan Morrison, who had made national headlines for being forced out of a soccer coaching job at an evangelical college for open communication related to sexual orientation. (That interview was reported with a previous…
After Primary Day, where are we?
I want to offer a few propositions for where our country is politically after this week’s round of primary voting, mainly in the South. President Donald Trump continues to destroy the careers of those Republican politicians who demonstrate independent judgment….
The guardrails preserving our democracy
I want to consider some good news today. The good news is that certain cultural, political and legal guardrails are holding against Donald Trump and his government right now. I am not suggesting our democracy is in the clear. I…
A report from the Post-Evangelical Collective meeting in Boston
The momentum is growing. The Post-Evangelical Collective has a bright future, but also key issues to consider. What follows are some observations from my fourth national Post-Evangelical Collective conference. In order, they have been Denver (2023), Raleigh (2024), Nashville (2025)…