Eastern Christianity: A Journey
The following is a talk that my departed grandmother invited me to give for her Sunday School class at First United Methodist Shreveport which, due to some confusion, was given in its entirety to the …
Faith
Demonologists’ Daughters, Exvangelicals and the Demons of Religious Trauma
A mysterious recording of a fatal exorcism, a desperate phone call in the night, and determination to finally know the truth behind her sister’s mysterious death compel Diana Chambers to return to the demon-haunted world …
The “Lean on Me” Ethic, No Bootstraps Required
When Bill Withers passed away, it was all over Facebook. The top hit of his illustrious career was Lean on Me. It ranked #7 when it was released in 1972, the year I was born. Withers …
Thoughts on Our Shared Humanity
Back in the 1990s, the federal government realized that there were dorms and beds for a minimum security prison in one of the most curious of places: the country’s last hospital for persons who had …
Polygamy and the Protestant Reformers
The Latin terms sola gratia, sola fides, sola scriptura, solus Christus, and soli Deo gloria describe concepts that stood at the center of Protestant theological and polemical writings in the early sixteenth century. Scripture alone, …
The Problem with Christian Nationalism: A Theocracy Without Mercy
One of the most challenging summers of my childhood involved a prolonged visit with my cousins. Both boys, slightly older than myself, made it their personal mission to torment me. I use the term “torment” …
The Offense of Grace: We Desire Sacrifice, Not Mercy
The situation with Bishop Budde pleading with Donald Trump in her sermon last week to show mercy reminded me of a story from my past. The story is from over a decade ago when I …
Republicans Can’t be Christian
I am going to say something controversial, “Republicans can’t be Christians.” To the vast majority of Christians, I just said something unthinkable, especially if one is of the evangelical stripe of Christianity. I can feel …
A Faith of My Own
A few years ago, the NBC TV show The Office was all the rage. Despite it seeming like everyone I knew was watching it, I couldn’t. It wasn’t that I wasn’t invited to the watch …
Does Christ’s Upside-Down Kingdom Frighten Us?
In my previous essay, which can be found here, I wrote of a fascinating exchange between Governor Felix and the Apostle Paul in Acts 24. To briefly recap, Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and sent …