David Gushee

Ancient painting of Jesus and the nativity

Christ Came to Make Us Truly Human: Social Ethics and the Image of Christ

Dietrich Bonhoeffer always brings me up short when he emphasizes the indicative rather than imperative voice in Paul’s thought and in Christian ethics more broadly. For example, in terms of Bonhoeffer’s work on image Christology, he emphasizes that the work of Christ in restoring the image of God in humanity is an accomplished fact, a reality […]

Christ Came to Make Us Truly Human: Social Ethics and the Image of Christ

stained glass church window

Christ Came to Make Us Truly Human: Remade in the Image of Christ

This is the second in a three-week Advent series. In six places in the New Testament, five of them in the (probable) writings of Paul, the image of God is reinterpreted in light of Jesus Christ. The imago dei becomes the imago Christi. This Pauline theme is sometimes called “image Christology.” It takes us closer to our exploration of

Christ Came to Make Us Truly Human: Remade in the Image of Christ

Old Painting of the Nativity

Christ Came to Make Us Truly Human: Human Sinfulness and the Image of God

Advent is upon us, and in my house, at least, we are already awash in Christmas decorations, music and movies. The peppermint bark candy is already on hand. The Christmas plates, cups and glasses are out. Our tree was up by Nov. 29! My wife, Jeanie, does Christmas right. At Catholic Mass on the first Sunday of

Christ Came to Make Us Truly Human: Human Sinfulness and the Image of God

graphic of an eroding mind

The Deconstruction of American Evangelicalism

We are witnessing at this moment the intellectual deconstruction of a religious group that has been called “evangelicalism.” Illusions about this community are being destroyed left and right. Of course, those illusions first eroded in practice, through the contradictions and failures of U.S. white evangelicalism itself. Today, however, the intellectual underpinnings of evangelicalism are being deconstructed

The Deconstruction of American Evangelicalism

Image of US Flag Torn in Half Like A Broken Boat on the Ocean

Why the U.S. Is Uniquely Divided: Engaging a Scholar from New Zealand

My last column for BNG, “Covid Wars,” offered a lament over our divided nation. It did not propose solutions, only sorrow and grief. Of course, we must do better than that. We must try to understand how we got here and figure out what we can do about it, if anything. After my piece posted, I

Why the U.S. Is Uniquely Divided: Engaging a Scholar from New Zealand

Teens in a class field trip

On Afghanistan, There Were No Innocent Choices Available

There were no morally unambiguous options, no innocent choices, facing President Joe Biden when it came to deciding what to do about the 20-year U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan that has cost the lives of nearly 2,500 U.S. troops, 3,800 U.S. security contractors, 100,000 Afghan civilians, some number of allied NATO personnel (a detail that never seems to

On Afghanistan, There Were No Innocent Choices Available

nuclear war memorial image

On this Anniversary of the Atomic Bomb, How Shall Christians Think about U.S. Foreign Policy?

I write this post on Aug. 6, the 76th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which destroyed that city and killed 70,000 to 80,000 people. Today, Aug. 9, is the anniversary of the day the U.S. bombed Nagasaki, killing between 40,000 and 80,000 people. The Japanese surrendered on Aug. 14, finally bringing an end

On this Anniversary of the Atomic Bomb, How Shall Christians Think about U.S. Foreign Policy?

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