(Written May 2017) What could ‘Stand Your Ground’ mean, to a resistor? When I think of the recent scandal at my seminary, my initial reaction is that we, the seminary community, must ‘stand our (moral) ground’. We must make it clear what moral ground me stand on, and we must…

This week in class we are reading The Trial of God by Elie Wiesel. It is a book that I read in high school. Overall, Elie Wiesel has profoundly influenced my theology, bringing in at least one major paradigm shift. Because I am not sure that my class will want…

As my course returns to Nobody Cries When We Die, I find myself again coming to the same lyrics I considered the first time: “Don’t know if I can open up / I’ve been opened enough / Don’t know if I can open up / I’m not a birthday present.”…

Theologian Beverly Mitchell takes up the heavy task researching both black slavery in the United States and the Jewish Holocaust of Nazi Germany, drawing connections of practice between the two, and interpreting import of it all. Of utmost importance to Mitchell, and to me, is that human dignity is indestructible…

“For [the black colonized person] there is only one way out, and it leads to the white world.” This week, I am faced with this quote by Frantz Fanon. He’s talking about a psychological struggle for equality, which is also a struggle of decolonizing the mind. So badly, I want…

Over the next 4 months, I will be posting weekly devotions based in the lyrics of the shocking Marilyn Manson. These devotions will also engage with my weekly course readings for “Christian Mission & Ethics in a Violent World” In the song Mephistopheles of Los Angeles, Marilyn Manson repeats the…

Christian supremacy — The belief that Christian people and Christian ideas are superior to people and ideas from all other religious, spiritual, and/or non-religious backgrounds, and thus Christian people and ideas should dominate society. (reworked from the definition of “white supremacy” on Dictionary.com) This includes the centering of the theological…

“Healer”…That’s the metaphor that always seemed most fitting for being a pastor, to me. To provide healing. It sounds positive. Happy. Pain transformed into No Pain. But can we pastors really do that? Is that really the best way to think about it? “ Time may dull But will never heal SCARS…” What healing can I bring to people…

After being overheard saying that I’m not a Christ-o-centric person, I was asked what a Spirit-centric Christianity would look like…I didn’t have a good answer at the time. I mostly think the issue is that in raising Jesus above humanity, Christianity often lowers the rest of humanity. Here’s an example…