KineticsLive.com at the American Academy of Religion Conference in Baltimore, Maryland November 25th, 2PM-5PM Renaissance Hotel Theme: Prophetic Rage: Reflecting on Prophetic Witness Today Monday, November 25th, 2:00PM-3:00PM The session will feature an Interview with Dr. Johnny Bernard Hill on the release of Prophetic Rage: A Postcolonial Theology of Liberation, in dialogue with leading theologians and activists on the nature of prophetic Christian witness in today’s context.  From “Stand Your Ground Laws” to the issue of “mass incarceration,” what does it mean to stand for... Read more

The Rev. Timothy McDonald gripped the pulpit with both hands, locked eyes with the shouting worshippers, and decided to speak the unspeakable. The bespectacled Baptist minister was not confessing to a scandalous love affair or the theft of church funds. He brought up another taboo: the millions of poor Americans who won’t get health insurance beginning in January because their states refused to accept Obamacare. McDonald cited a New Testament passage in which Jesus gathered the 5,000 and fed them with five... Read more

The destructive effects of HIV/AIDS on humankind have gone beyond victims, their families, and their health practitioners to become the focus of international attention among leaders of the faith community who are entrusted to preach sacred words of life, hope, and grace to the hurting in times of hopelessness. This has occurred despite these leaders’ traditional reluctance to address openly the interrelationship of sexual practices, sexually transmitted diseases, and the larger society. Take, for example, this statement from an oral... Read more

We just don’t get it, do we?  We have this penchant for violence that is insatiable.  Last week, we had a shooting at Los Angeles International Airport where Paul Ciancia gunned down a Transportation Security Agency agent and wounded at least three others, before he was wounded and apprehended by police.  This past Monday evening, 20 year-old Richard Shoop enters Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus, NJ and opens fire and terrifies hundreds of shoppers until he shoots himself.  Tuesday... Read more

On the opening night of the Yeezus Tour, multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning rapper Kanye West brought out an actor to portray Jesus during his concert in Seattle. Most of the time when I see “White Jesus” depicted, I don’t get offended because I don’t find it to be historically accurate. But between this and the title and theme of Kanye’s last album, Yeezus, I was initially fed up. His antics were disrespectful, offensive, and just plain unnecessary. Before I began to write... Read more

by O’Shan GadsdenR3 Contributor *To read the part 1, click here In my last post, I suggested that despite having your physical freedom, many of you are still journeying through life psychologically and spiritually imprisoned; having yet to reach your full potential!  So I ask you today, what internal warfare do you battle that manifests itself in spiritual, psychological, and interpersonal captivity? What un-evolved parts of yourself have kept you from realizing your full potential and creative power?  Do you... Read more

With the constant barrage of updates on our respective fields of interest by way of Twitter, Facebook, blog posts, or listservs – not to mention good old-fashioned paper catalogs from publishers – it’s always a pleasant surprise to come across a new book that you haven’t seen mentioned anywhere. A few WorldCat search queries recently led me to just such a surprise by pointing to the recently published Gods in America: Religious Pluralism in the United States(Oxford, 2013), an anthology edited... Read more

Nadia Bolz-Weber bounds into the University United Methodist Church sanctuary like a superhero from Planet Alternative Christian. Her 6-foot-1 frame is plastered with tattoos, her arms are sculpted by competitive weightlifting and, to show it all off, this pastor is wearing a tight tank top and jeans. Looking out at the hundreds of people crowded into the pews to hear her present the gospel of Jesus Christ, she sees: Dockers and blazers. Sensible shoes. Grandmothers and soccer moms. Nary a... Read more

The African American Communication and Culture Division (AACCD) of the National Communication Association (NCA) selected Dr. Andre E. Johnson’s book The Forgotten Prophet: Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and the African American Prophetic Tradition for its 2013 Outstanding Book Award. According to the announcement letter, the selection committee felt that Dr. Johnson’s work was an “outstanding scholarly contribution to the field of African American discourse” Dr. Johnson will receive the award at the Association’s convention in Washington, DC later this month. Dr. Johnson currently serves as... Read more

Given the relationship between religion and violence, I want to explore a very controversial claim, namely, that religion is responsible for much of the institutionalized violence that exists in the world. Before examining the truth or falsity of this claim, however, I need to define important concepts including religion and violence, examine the nature of violence, and explore examples of institutionalized violence. I will then conclude by exploring Rene Girard’s excellent evaluation of the claim. The Reality of Violence Violence is a... Read more