Even for someone like me whose theological background is old school Calvinism, 2020 managed to leave me with a bleaker and more cynical take on human nature than I had going in. And that’s quite a feat. There are no two ways about it, Americans are cruel. Like the rest of the world, we were […]
Category: Protest
Five Things I Learned in 2020, Part 1: EVERYWHERE IS RACIST
Yeah so 2020, amirite? It sucked, blah blah blah. Here’s some stuff I learned: Thing #1: EVERYWHERE IS RACIST Before 2020 hit, I, like most normal people, thought that racism (the everyday conversational kind, not the institutional kind) was mainly confined to the usual places. You know, like Michigan and Missouri. Oh, and also Ohio. […]
Unity is Overrated
The 2020 election has been called today for Joe Biden, and already we are hearing Trump supporters and other Republicans lecturing us about unity. John Kasich is warning us about whom the president-elect must consider (and must not consider) for his cabinet, The Independent is urging Biden to pardon his predecessor “for the good of us all,” […]
Hamilton and the Politics of Protest
I just finished watching Hamilton. And it was fine. Better than fine, actually, it was remarkably well done. From the acting to the singing and from the costumes to the set, Hamilton ticks all the right boxes and its Tonys, I’m sure, are well-deserved. But I’m not interested in Hamilton per se, but in the […]
Fascist Faith and Trickle-Down Living
In episode #10 of the Misfit Faith podcast I put forth a little thought experiment, the results of which can be pretty transformative. The way the Christian life usually works goes something like this: We begin with doctrines or dogmas that are imposed upon us from on high — whether from the Church, the Bible, […]
The Departing Glory from a Rotten Church
Since receiving a set of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s works for Christmas I have been doing some thinking. As you may know, Bonhoeffer was a German theologian executed by the Nazis toward the end of the Second World War, and one of his most important contributions has been his suggestion that what was needed in his own […]