By Brian Foreman In Kenyatta Gilbert’s The Journey and Promise of African American Preaching (Creative Pastoral Care and Counseling), 2011, three pillars of preaching styles are described – prophetic, priestly and sage. A likely challenge for many clergy and congregations is their comfort level with one particular style. One of preaching’s great challenges is that … Continue reading
We live in a highly polarized time. You’ve probably heard it a thousand times, knowing we often discuss it on the Podcast. It is easy in our given times not to pull our heads above the mess to see that we have been here before. In other words, there have been other catalytic moments in … Continue reading
I’m an early riser. There is no better start to the workday than sitting in front of the desk at 6:30 a.m. with my first cup of coffee and the creative juices flowing. I have had an ever-changing relationship with work over the last decade, realizing my complete lack of boundaries and the need to … Continue reading
Is American democracy under threat from Christian Nationalists? David Gushee seems to believe so. When you are in a crisis, it’s hard to rise above it to see where we have come from, where we are, and where we need to go. It also can feel a lot bigger than it actually is. So, how … Continue reading
Deconstruction is one of those buzzwords. It’s either being used by those who have or are experiencing it or those that want to criticize it. The reality is that Jesus invites us to deconstruct. From a biblical perspective, isn’t Jesus’ invitation to follow him an act of ongoing deconstruction, leaving the old and discovering the … Continue reading
Boy, masculinity has been batted around by conservative Christians these days. It’s the stump talking point as yet another weapon in the arsenal of the mentality that the world is out to get Christians. Friend of the Podcast, Kristen Kobes Du Mez, has written extensively about the history of toxic masculinity within Evangelicalism over the … Continue reading
With the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, among many others, the country came to this flashpoint of awakening that racism is not a past but a lived experience of black and brown people. There was so much energy and moment around real change. And then, well then, White people struck back. … Continue reading
Long before chattel slavery dominated the American South, human subjugation had been perfected by the Spanish conquest of the Mississippi Delta. The Conquistadors’ colonization, displacement, and enslavement of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek laid the foundation for the later formation of chattel slavery, post-war terrorism by the KKK, the migration of Black Americas to places … Continue reading
For those that think the Bible is boring, clearly, they have never read about the sea monsters. Apparently, I missed that one, too, in my various Old Testament courses. “In the ancient world, sea monsters were mythical creatures that functioned as forces of chaos, as agents of fear and disorder. They lived in the dangerous … Continue reading
Truth is truth, right? In the last several years, it seems as though facts are optional or debatable. Jesus told us that we shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us free. But what happens when Evangelicals are associated with a political movement that seems to be bending the truth or accepting alternative … Continue reading