racism
Episode 32: Robert P. Jones, author of The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy
A conversation with Robert P. Jones about the Doctrine of Discovery, the 1920 lynching of three Black men, the entitlement behind European chosenness, and more
R.M.N. is a kaleidoscopic allegory of all of Western civilization
Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu takes a hammer to true-to-life events and then puts the pieces back together again.
Honoring the mothers of environmental justice
Dollie Burwell and Hazel Johnson have been under-recognized in environmental studies—and relegated to mere footnotes in church history.
The racist scientism of our past
The Century, like the Smithsonian, once supported eugenics.
Episode 31: environmental activist Bill McKibben, author of The Flag, the Cross and the Station Wagon
A conversation with Bill McKibben about climate change, the wealth gap, spiritual formation, and more
The dream and the backlash
Sixty years after the March on Washington, we don’t talk much about how nervous it made White people.
The gates of evangelicalism
Isaac Sharp traces the story of the groups that find themselves outside, pushed there by the conservative White men standing guard.
Episode 30: Terence Lester, activist and author of All God’s Children
A conversation with Terence Lester about implicit bias, God as Justice, critical race theory, and more
Ruth Bell Graham’s adjustments
Anne Blue Wills highlights the complexity of a woman convinced by her Christian culture that she was created by God to support her husband.
The duly elected Black men expelled from a state legislature—155 years ago
The expulsion of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson recalls the Original 33, expelled by Georgia’s anti-Reconstruction White majority in 1868.
The White church still owes “Letter from Birmingham Jail” an answer
King’s letter is so soaked in US history that 60 years later we almost forget it was addressed not to the nation but to specific Christian pastors.
Anti-racism’s mission drift
Privileged progressives have turned their attention from structures and systems to sentimentalism.
Episode 26: Ethicist Reggie Williams, author of Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus
A conversation with ethicist Reggie Williams about Bonhoeffer, Black Jesus, racism, and more
A self-emptying of privilege
Brandan Robertson grounds his discussion of Christians and privilege in the kenosis hymn of Philippians 2.
Cheap grace in South Africa
Eve Fairbanks traces the experiences of three South Africans to diagnose the country’s unrealized promises.
Tyre Nichols’s killing is not an exception
Police violence against Black citizens is written into the script of American culture.
Another look at the 1619 Project
I approached the project’s new anthology with some skepticism. Its contents quickly dispelled my doubts.
Episode 23: Activist Otis Moss III, author of Dancing in the Darkness
A conversation with activist and filmmaker Otis Moss III about his film Otis’ Dream, retribution, spirituality, and more
Should we avoid liturgical language of light and dark?
While struggling with this question as a church songwriter, I came up with six guidelines.