None of us have done this before. It’s still incredibly surreal. And the situation is… fluid. Even the experts are looking to other experts for advice, and new data keeps arriving by the minute. In the midst of it all, churches are trying to sort out out to be a healthy participant in a global effort to flatten the effects of a global pandemic. We believe in health, the healing of the nations, so we’re doing everything we can to... Read more
Guest columnist: Nik Robbins… to read his amazing blog and laugh (or learn) some more, visit https://niknotes2020.wordpress.com/ Christianity is a religion of creeds. Judaism is a religion of deeds. This is an old saying. It basically means, Christians believe things. Jews do stuff. So if you, like me, have both Christian and Jewish elements in your family background, it’s not hard to be both Christian and Jewish. You just halfheartedly believe Christian things and halfheartedly do Jewish stuff. Then you’re both... Read more
This is NOT a progressive post repudiating the ancient creeds of the church (Apostles’, Nicene, etc.). Instead, it’s an attempt to put doctrine and creedal formulation in their proper place. Even more importantly, it’s an answer to one of the most frequent of questions I get asked as a pastor: Can I be a part of your church if I don’t believe everything Christians believe? Let’s start by being clear. We’re all individuals, and there is absolutely no homogenous belief... Read more
On Religious Liberty When developing a vocabulary of culture and society, difficulties arise. It is the words themselves that often present particular trouble. Conceptual words, what Raymond Williams calls keywords in his book of the same name, are notoriously elusive. They have specialized meanings in particular areas of study. Their usage is variable in general discussions. Williams wrote an entire book on keywords because he found that with such words the problems of the meaning of the words are “inextricably... Read more
If you survey the North American religious landscape, the evidence is pretty clear. The mega-churches are conservative. You have churches like Mars Hill in Seattle which went against the trend and built a conservative mega-church in Pacifica in the 2000s. You have that other Mars Hill in Michigan (why both of these are Mars Hill I’ve never understood) which Rob Bell built but once he discerned he wasn’t conservative he had to leave. Even the more pop cultural mega-churches across... Read more
It’s one of the blessings in my life that the authors of The Long Southern Strategy, Angie Maxwell and Todd Shield, are also my neighbors and friends. I appreciate Angie’s work not only in political analysis but also in community organizing, and Todd Shield’s leadership at the university, combined with Angie’s work in Southern Studies, contributes not just to the world of scholarship but to our shared community life together. I may come to this book at a somewhat different... Read more
The following essay is excerpted from the recently released Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: Case Studies of Creative Social Change. I highly recommend the volume as a whole. It’s the creative work of many scholars examining how creative social change takes place at the intersection of popular culture and the civic imagination. From our forms of speech, to our religious commitments, to our sense of communal identity, we are a nation of diverse regional cultures. And part of regional imagination... Read more
I’ve got a pastor friend who is spectacular at being in her neighborhood for good. The congregation is known by the neighborhood and is integral to it. They garden in their back yard. They use the basement as a shelter. Members of the parish are residents of the immediate geographical neighborhood. As a result, this pastor often gets asked by newly called pastors and church outreach committees, “How can we reach out to our neighborhood more effectively?” Often these questions... Read more
First, full disclaimer: I have never used marijuana in my life, and have rarely even been with people who are (the most notable exception being a stay at a hostel in Hamburg, Germany where everyone staying there was using up the stash they’d brought from Amsterdam). I have of course frequently been with people who were using before they were spending time with me. One story to illustrate: a couple of years back, I needed a gram scale to weigh balsa... Read more
Books under review in this post Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better (by Rob Reich) Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World (by Anand Giridharadas) Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance (by Edgar Villanueva) I won’t bury the lead. I’ve often worried about the chilling (not to mention controlling) effect grants have on non-profits. And I believe that we should not deceive ourselves that we are... Read more
Clint Schnekloth
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