R3 contributor Earle Fisher, Senior Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, presents an evening with renown biblical scholar Randall Bailey to talk about a Liberationist Approach to Scripture. Dr. Bailey’s bio is belowDr. Randall C. Bailey is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Hebrew Bible at Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Bailey is a native of Malden, MA. He received the BA from Brandeis University, the MA in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago,... Read more

First, an admission. While I have watched Fox News anchor Lauren Green’s interview with Reza Aslan, I have not read his book and likely will not. Based on the book’s chapter headings, bibliography, indebtedness to N.T. Wright, James Dunn, and E. P. Sanders (all rather conservative and/or theological historical Jesus scholars), the fact that it is part of the HarperCollins religion catalogue (not exactly known as a go-to publisher for books on ancient Christianity), and the fact that the hardcover is selling for... Read more

Conversion means change. But when we’re converted, we don’t immediately appreciate the thoroughgoing nature of divine grace—that God works in and through us despite our shortcomings. So change can be slow and arduous, especially if you were raised in a religious tradition that strongly emphasizes the role of human merit. About this experience, I can speak most specifically from my own background, which happens to be Roman Catholic. Like many who convert to Christ and begin worshiping in an evangelical... Read more

What follows is a collection of some of the stuff I was taught to believe. If you were raised in a similar fundamentalist Christian environment, you will readily recognize the worldview. If you were not, well, perhaps this will help inform you or confirm what you knew already. Not by any means is it an exhaustive list. Instead, it’s more like a sampling of a few of the more common beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity. In the second part of this... Read more

Sleep. Sleep. Sleeep. Sleep is the best meditation – Dalai Lama The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep – E. Joseph Cossman I.Sleeping is like hitting the reset button. People die without sleep. It can make us maniacal and cut off our connection to spirit to be without sleep.Are you afraid of missing something—if you sleep…? Is it something you are afraid you didn’t do or didn’t get to do? And yet…what part of our spiritual practice is suffering... Read more

I woke up at 3am this morning f***ing terrified.  God knows why, but as I lay there, trying to breathe into it, all I could feel was this tightness somewhere in my solar plexus. Like a rock. Every ten minutes or so, whenever one of the trains that pass my house rattled by the window – my whole body would begin to silently scream. Mind racing: maybe I need to leave New York, maybe I need to do more yoga,... Read more

by Andre E. JohnsonR3 EditorEvery August for the last 10 years, our church has taken a Sabbath break. What this means for us is that outside of worship services on Sunday or any major events, such as funerals and the like, we shut down for the month to rest and reflect. I ask members to reflect first on their calls to be a part of church, the ministries in which they participate and if they are still call to serve... Read more

*This first appeared in the Public Religion Research Institute blog.  Read more

This past week, the US Department of State announced the creation of a new office that “will focus on engagement with faith-based organizations and religious institutions around the world to strengthen US development and diplomacy and advance America’s interests and values.” Citing widespread religious persecution and violence overseas, proponents of the new office of “religious engagement” hope to further institutionalize an official US commitment to globalize religious freedom, marginalize extremism, and promote interfaith dialogue and religious tolerance. There is great excitement in some quarters about... Read more

by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor*This first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blogI’ve been watching the controversy surrounding Reza Aslan’s new bestseller fairly closely. The book is called Zealot and it’s the latest of many titles to argue that Jesus was a revolutionary teacher, a man of prophetic vision, a political rabble-rouser and a devoutly religious Jew whose only real claim to divinity is found in the identity imposed upon him after his death. The author of this book has done... Read more