Brian Bantum
Is there no other prophet to consult?
Amid our dying empires and institutions, we might recall the story of King Ahab.
Tending love in a time of trauma
My mother grew up in a violent home. But violence was not the totality of her life.
The struggle to live in unity when everything’s divided
We know how to wield a sword, but nobody taught us how to cultivate a field.
Walking with Moses from slavery to liberation
When Moses says “keep still,” he’s not recommending inactivity.
Tomorrow will come (Maundy Thursday)
Anyone who has occupied spaces where death looms knows that the experience of time is anything but certain.
April 10, Good Friday (Psalm 22; John 18:1–19:42)
Things Pilate cannot touch: creative life, confounding power
April 9, Maundy Thursday (Psalm 116:1–2, 12–19; John 13:1–17, 31b–35)
Jesus is saying, Love should feel like this.
What makes A Wrinkle in Time Christian?
Some white Christians have complained that Ava DuVernay’s film is not faithful to Madeleine L’Engle’s book. A lot of people of color, however, have been feeling this movie deeply.
A lineage of black female scholars
Black women's contributions continue to be rendered invisible. Brittney Cooper offers a critical intervention.
Who decides what my body means?
The next Reformation is about interpretation, but not of a book.
Need to confess
The whole church needs to encounter the courage and truthfulness of the fact that God created us good, to love and be loved.
Full humanity: Black Lives Matter symposium
In the civil rights movement, language of political participation was central. BLM activists are making a more profound demand.
The Souls of Black Folk, by W. E. B. Du Bois
"What does it feel like to be a problem?” For the first time in college, a line from a book rang in my head for days. W. E. B....
Prophetic creativity
In the wake of Michael Brown's shooting by Darren Wilson and the subsequent protests in Ferguson, Lauryn Hill posted a song called "Black Rage."
Sunday, February 1, 2015: Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Idolatry seems like such an easy thing to avoid.
How we mourn
The new year is only a few weeks old. Like most people I have been reflecting on the past year, wondering where the time went. But even more, I have been wondering what the world has come to.
Sunday, January 25, 2015: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Paul isn’t asking us to avoid the world. But if the form of the world is passing away, the everyday is becoming a step into promise.
Love in a time of soundbites
I have found myself dreading Facebook lately. With the general election beginning to churn, the competing posts are out: “Evidence of Obama’s socialist conspiracy!” “Republicans plan to inspect every woman’s womb!” Some are rather scary while others I quietly cheer; still others simply draw me into grief over how little Jesus seems apparent in any of it.