Category: history

bronze bust of Julius Caesar seen from the side

Jesus as Emperor

The vision of Jesus for empire Christianity in our Sunday Schools and sermons and theologies is really an irrelevant Jesus who does not match the Jesus of the texts.

A man works to repair a church window.

On Deconstruction

For the vast, vast majority of people, “deconstruction” is a good thing. Deconstruction can result in something far different and, in my opinion, far better than, white Evangelical Christianity.

A stramd of barbed wire running horizontally

When Our Bibles Get It Wrong

The history of the church is our confidence in rightly understanding until we realize how terribly wrong we’ve misunderstood everything.

A footbridge in the fog. The bridge is held up by a concrete hand.

Be Like Betty White

Betty White, a white woman in an industry that empowered only white men, stood up for what’s right. It cost her the job that she loved. But she did it, not “anyway,” but “because.” She did it because of her own moral integrity.

When the Good News Isn’t So Good

We have to face the fact that Christians often pick up odious behavior traits and exhibit them while singing songs of love and praise to Jesus of Nazareth.

When You See Their Truth

Whatever your beliefs are about redemption and salvation and even universalism—Jesus was always with those who are most despised and feared by Evangelicals. They’re the people he had meals with. Their homes were his resting place. They were whom he wept for.

Real but Imaginary Threats

Much ink will be spilled in the next few months or even years about the topic of Critical Race Theory (CRT), both by those who think they support it and those who think they oppose it

The Fear of Transparency

The myth of white success also develops the myth of white innocence. All the successes were due to white efforts that others seemed unable to copy; all the events of terror and destruction were minimalized and forgotten. And white innocence was preserved & confirmed for a people who could gladly declare their devotion to America as the land of “liberty and justice for all.”

A white man in a hat smiles at a white woman who smiles back.

REVIEW: Good White Racist?

As your friend, I need to tell you
something about myself that I also see in you, and it’s something that’s
bringing harm to people.

A white man in a hat smiles at a white woman who smiles back.

REVIEW: Good White Racist?2

It’s not necessarily an easy book to read, although it is written with a
clear, bracing, compassionate style. It will be hard to read because it is like
having someone sit you down and say, “As your friend, I need to tell you
something about myself that I also see in you, and it’s something that’s
bringing harm to people.”

American flag, backlighted so that a white cross appears on the blue canton with white stars

The Devil Is a Christian Nationalist

There is no divine right for Christians to control the government. There is no place in the Constitution for Christians to be given charge of the government to rule as “Christians.”

Gruff bearded white cowboy wearing a white hat

REVIEW: Jesus and John Wayne

Du Mez answers the question “What happened to white Evangelicals between Clinton and Trump?” with provocative, well-researched data to show the inevitability of the election results in 2016—and 2020.

On the Public Death of a Suspect

I am watching the trial of Derek Chauvin, taking place right now, to determine his culpability and guilt in the public death of George Floyd some ten months ago.