Note: I am developing a work that offers post-evangelical meditations on the book of Job. This section reflects on what Job says in chapters 9-10. This section was drafted over the last week. Perhaps it will speak to you. I hope to bring this book out in 2026, with Orbis Books. He is not a […]
The Terror of Arbitrary Power: A Meditation Based on Job 9-10
Note: The talk below was presented on 8 February to Ethiopian theologians gathered under the banner of Prophetic: The Public Theology Fellowship, led by the gifted Andrew DeCort. You will see that my task in this workshop was to address the nature, purpose, and strategy of Christian public theology. I was also asked to reflect on
Bearing Faithful Witness: Christian Public Theology in Crisis Times and All Other Times
The Moment We Have Been Preparing For Note: On January 26, 2025, I had the special privilege of offering the closing keynote address at the Q Christian Fellowship conference in Atlanta. This organization describes its mission as follows: “cultivating radical belonging for LGBTQ+ Christians and allies.” Below is the text of my Sunday morning address, which followed
Closing Address, Q Christian Fellowship Conference, Atlanta
WHERE I WAS BEFORE 5 NOVEMBER 2024 The election results came as a shock and great disappointment to me and many academics (of course, not all!). While we knew that Trump could win, I now see some of us were self-soothing by screening out information that we did not like. My favorite pacifiers were the
Final Reflections on the Lessons of 2024
I am writing this post very early in the morning of Friday, Sept. 6. It is less than 48 hours after 14-year-old Colt Gray decided to start his freshman year at Apalachee High School, 40 minutes north of me, by murdering his classmates and teachers, four of whom are dead, nine of whom are injured. I
Apalachee High School: The Questions that Haunt Me at Night
The Lenten season has been especially intense for me this year on a spiritual level. I have sought to follow its rhythms, demands and opportunities from Ash Wednesday until now, Holy Week. Each day I have read the Mass readings and experienced their impact. My sense that the Christian life is best undertaken within the rhythm
I have a weekly prayer cycle I try to practice in my morning devotional time. On Mondays, I pray for myself, my discipleship, health, calling and responsibilities. On Tuesdays, I pray for each family member. On Wednesdays, I pray for my friends. And on Thursdays, I pray for the church and the various institutions and churches
I want to make the modest proposal that there is a dimension of religion, including Christianity, that properly transcends world affairs to focus on the state of individual character and the health of the soul. I speak of the inner core of a human being, who we are in our deepest selfhood and the quiet place
Preserving a Sense of the Ultimate
In my 2020 book, After Evangelicalism, I argued that there were likely twenty-five million people who had been raised evangelical but who had either switched to another religious tradition or no longer identified with any religious tradition. This estimate was based on the massive (35,000 surveyed in all fifty states) and much quoted Pew Research
Now Is the Time to Talk about Post-Evangelicalism—Out Loud and Together
“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” — John 17:20-21 John 17 often is labeled as Jesus’ “high-priestly prayer.” This is because he stands in the sight of God praying for his people. In this extraordinarily profound