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"An immensely important book for our present moment."
- Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne
Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies advocates for sane, ethical, and compassionate politics in a world where many Christians are instigating discord and vying for power. Any concerned Christian will leave its pages with eyes clear to the dangers of our current form of political engagement and with insight into what democracy is truly meant to be.
David P. Gushee tackles the question in this timely work of Christian political ethics. Gushee calls us to preserve democratic norms of civil rights, rule of law, and shared governance, even as many Christians grow reactionary and antidemocratic.
On sale October 3, 2023
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Our Weekly Gun Massacres Mark a Devastating Cultural Failure
Our weekly gun massacres in the United States are shocking in the extreme. They set us apart from other nations in the worst possible sense. I have not yet been in or near one of these massacres. The closest I have gotten is that the recent shooting in an Atlanta medical office building took place in …
Our Weekly Gun Massacres Mark a Devastating Cultural Failure
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Christianity without Love
One of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a …
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The Christian Right Continues Its Futile but Dangerous War of Reaction
For a long time, it was clear the white Christian Right in the United States was waging a war of reaction (sometimes open, sometimes clandestine) against just about every social, cultural and legal change that has taken place in our country since about, say, 1962. If we take the time horizon that far back, these changes would …
The Christian Right Continues Its Futile but Dangerous War of Reaction
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The ‘Man of Lawlessness’ Gets Indicted in New York
Since summer 2015, the most important figure in American life has been Donald J. Trump. Every time some of us hoped we would be through with him, he has shown he is not through with us. His exhausting presence and terrible impact on our country have not ended and apparently will not end even after he …
The ‘Man of Lawlessness’ Gets Indicted in New York
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The Dubious Ethics of Christian Twitter
Twitter is an enticement to sin. How’s that for a lead? Shall I say more? I discovered Twitter early and have maintained a steady presence there, despite various pauses, doubts and regrets. I almost abandoned the site last year when Elon Musk took over. I might do so still for various Musk-related reasons, such as …
The Dubious Ethics of Christian Twitter
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An Interview with Ukrainian Baptist Theologian Fyodor Raychynets
Last week, I was in Amsterdam for the annual academic colloquium of the International Baptist Theological Study Center. Among the scholars present there was my friend Fyodor Raychynets, a distinguished Baptist pastor and theologian, and a leader of the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary in Kyiv, which I had the privilege of visiting several years ago. I …
An Interview with Ukrainian Baptist Theologian Fyodor Raychynets
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The State Murder of Tyre Nichols
Joint article by Lisa Sharon Harper and David P. Gushee. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison. — Mark 6:27 On the day we write this post, during the week Tyre Nichols was buried after being murdered by Memphis police …
The State Murder of Tyre Nichols
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The Black Resistance Tradition and Its Fight for U.S. Democracy
Black America flipped the script on a racialized democratic state to make it more perfect. It is Black people’s fight that makes the United States exceptional. —Randal Jelks (2022) Many of us are profoundly worried about the health of American democracy. If so, we need to attend deeply to the deadly contradiction between structural racism and …
The Black Resistance Tradition and Its Fight for U.S. Democracy
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Dear Dr. Gushee: Can Sexual Orientation Ever Be Considered Grounds for Divorce?
I get lots of messages that follow up on my 2014 book, Changing Our Mind. That book, aiming to reach evangelical Christians, argued for an end to Christian stigma and rejection of LGBTQ people and an incorporation of same-sex relationships into the covenantal-marital standard I believe is the best expression of Christian sexual ethics. Most evangelicals, it …
Dear Dr. Gushee: Can Sexual Orientation Ever Be Considered Grounds for Divorce?
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How I Am Believing in the Christmas Story This Year
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (Matthew 1:23) It is a commonplace observation of mainstream historical-critical New Testament scholars that the accounts of Jesus’ birth contain historically questionable and even fantastical elements. For those whose …
How I Am Believing in the Christmas Story This Year
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The Shock of Being 60 Years Old
I turned 60 years old this past summer. I have not quite gotten over it yet. Sixty is just different. It definitely feels at least three years older than 59. “They” say age is just a number. So maybe this is not about what the calendar says my age is. Maybe it is about what it …
The Shock of Being 60 Years Old
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I Vote for a Bit of Normal
Four recent events in my life maybe converge to a theme: After six apocalyptic years, I want some normal. First event: I am walking around Zurich, Switzerland, in September. From what I have learned about Switzerland, I am confident this is a country whose current politics are pretty normal, as politics go. They are not facing a …
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Trump’s Toxicity: A First Take on the Midterm Elections
On the morning after, with more results still to come in, so far the most important takeaway from the midterm elections is that Donald Trump keeps hurting the Republican Party, whose soul he has eaten, and this is grounds for hope. It is an unrelenting rule of American politics that the party that holds the White …
Trump’s Toxicity: A First Take on the Midterm Elections
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The Unsolvable Political Problem Facing Those Who Lead Purple Churches
The United States is bitterly divided along what we now call red/blue, conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat lines. Of course, not everyone fits into those boxes, but enough do for the statement to be accurate. The mutual suspicion and social separation between the two camps is intensifying. As we prepare for the midterm elections and we see so many …
The Unsolvable Political Problem Facing Those Who Lead Purple Churches
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The Post-evangelical Phenomenon Is in Europe Too
Just after Labor Day, I flew to Zurich to begin 10 days of meetings, podcasts and speeches in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. The event introduced me to the growing post-evangelical scene in Europe, as well as the situation facing LGBTQ Christians. I was struck by several profound similarities to our situation here in the United …
The Post-evangelical Phenomenon Is in Europe Too
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An Ethicist Tackles the Issues
Dr. Gushee speaks to a wide range of audiences and organizations, including churches, universities, special forums, podcasts and the media. He often speaks on evangelicalism, LGBTQ+ inclusion, politics, and other issues of the day by offering a principled and everyday level perspective that informs and inspires.
David Gushee’s work in [Changing Our Mind] stands to be of pivotal importance in reframing the LGBTQ dialogue in the church, and in reclaiming the church’s moral authority for a new generation.
—Matthew Vines, author of God and the Gay Christian
“Kingdom Ethics is arguably the most significant and comprehensive Christian ethics textbook of our time.”
— Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom, North Park Theological Seminary
“Anyone who wants to know what a Christian ethicist is and does can begin [with Still Christian], with the compelling account of how one man makes life-bending decisions about things that matter, without ever losing faith in the tender Jesus who has hold of his soul.”
–Barbara Brown Taylor, author of Leaving Church and Learning to Walk in the Dark
"David Gushee is one of the best Christian ethicists alive today. "
—Shane Claiborne, speaker, activist, and author of Executing Grace
"Thinking about Christianity after evangelicalism is neither trendy, alarmist, nor faithless, but rather it carves out a needed path forward for those millions of exvangelicals who have found the movement that birthed them to be irrelevant, traumatic, and even abhorrent and are seeking a place to land. Few have earned the right to speak to this topic with such prophetic clarity and practical insight, not to mention approachable writing style, as David Gushee."
–Peter Enns, author of How the Bible Actually Works