At the dawn of new ways of thinking about about God…and perhaps most often not thinking about God at all…leading Southern intellectuals Ellin Jimmerson and Jeff Hood come together to discuss what it means to be Baptist in their particular context and beyond. INTRODUCTION: Jeff Hood and I have been friends ever since we discovered each other. He knew me as an immigrant rights advocate and film maker. I knew him as an idiosyncratic, unpredictable wild... Read more
December 26, 2021 Unbelievable Love: Christ in Us *This theological reflection is loosely based on 1 John 3. BELOVED. God has lavished unbelievable love on us. We are the children of God. In fact, God is our inheritance forever. We are what we are. We are what we have always been. We are. The world forgets where it came from. Wake up, we come from God. Those who remain asleep need not worry for they will... Read more
The Hood Creed: Queer Thoughts from a Queer Believer Often, folks who disagree with my open interpretations of God will declare that I don’t really believe in anything. Yesterday, I had someone tell me that I shouldn’t celebrate Christmas because I really don’t believe in all of that. These statements are coming from political perspectives rather than spiritual ones. Conservative evangelicals think that they have a monopoly on God and moral thought. I can’t even begin to deconstruct the... Read more
Fellow inhabitants of earth, For almost two years now, I have served as the Dean of the blossoming, The New Theology School. Our goal is to help people of faith develop platforms to become public theologians in their particular contexts. In the midst of this work, I received an email from a Lutheran pastor in Latvia named, The Rev. Pavel Levushkan. For multiple months, we have had the opportunity to get to know each other. In each of... Read more
The Other Christmas Story: A Vision/Revision of Revelation 12 Deep in meditation, I was transported to another place. In the distance, I saw a family gathered around a table. The earth began to shake. Immediately, the family ran for refuge. Bombs started to explode everywhere. I was terrified…but I couldn’t close my eyes. I was here to watch. Not long after the bombs, I heard bullets slicing through the air. Screams rang out at all of the neighboring... Read more
The Embodiment of Christmas: Broader Lessons from the Text Putting on my suspenders and bowtie…I prepared for my big night…I was only five years old…and I don’t remember much from back then…but I do remember confidently standing up and walking to the microphone at the Christmas program at my school…after clearing my throat…I flawlessly recited Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus…though those words have festered in my soul ever since…there are truths to be embodied that are... Read more
Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” Matthew 21:12-13 (NKJV) Then Jesus went into the local white church and drove out all of those who put... Read more
As the Dean of The New Theology School, I get the pleasure of working with a wide variety of theological students from all over the world. Our first graduate from Zimbabwe was The Rev. Dr. Munorwei Chirovamavi. I’ve learned so much from him. When he asked me to publish his doctoral project for him on my blog, I didn’t hesitate. You will be glad that I didn’t. Below is the foreword that I wrote for his book (and below that is... Read more
*This book is a collection of theological reflections garnered from a recent conversation between two friends, The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, Dean of the New Theology School & The Rev. Dr. Kyle Sigmon, Associate Pastor of Worship at Faithbridge United Methodist Church (Boone, North Carolina). This excerpt is from the section of the book talking about The Animals at the First Christmas. The Animals. Why were they there? What do they mean? The answers are found in their eyes. Cows. Pigs. ... Read more
*Theological reflections garnered from a recent conversation between two friends, The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, Dean of the New Theology School & The Rev. Dr. Kyle Sigmon, Associate Pastor of Worship at Faithbridge United Methodist Church (Boone, North Carolina). The Shepherds Shepherds…that have never been anywhere…never seen anything…living on the wrong side of town…poor as dirt…who were working the night shift to make ends meet…get to see the heavens open up…a multitude of heavenly…and have a direct... Read more
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