Hope After Christendom

Yesterday, October 28th, marked the 17ooth anniversary of the Roman Emperor Constantine’s victory at the Milvian Bridge, which he attributed to the power of Jesus Christ. This historical marker for the marriage of Christ’s cross with the sword of Empire–what we often call “Christendom”–is followed today, October 29th, by the saint day for an obscure Baptist from Southwest Georgia, Clarence Jordan. A few weeks ago, hundreds of us from around the country gathered to remember Clarence at a Symposium in Americus.

My good friend Travis Reed caught me as I was preparing some reflections for this gathering: