Rob Bell: We Have It Upside Down

 On a plane recently, I had the chance to re-read the Jan/Feb cover story in Relevant magazine about Rob Bell. Bell, as many of you probably know, is the bespectacled pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I read his first book, Velvet Elvis, a couple years ago and enjoyed it (haven’t gotten around to his latest yet, [...]

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Spiritual Politics

Here’s a great blog for those of you interested in the intersection of faith and politics as it relates to this current presidential campaign. It’s produced by various religion, politics, and media scholars and is based at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. As usual, I’m not suggesting you’ll agree with all of their perspectives, but [...]

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Analyzing the Post-Obama Speech Blues

I realize my recent posts have been dominated by Barack Obama, and I’m going to make a concerted effort (after this post) to talk about other things as well. But I’ve just got to share one more piece of compelling commentary with you.
I’m a fan of both Glenn Loury and John McWhorter, and their conversation [...]

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On Prophets, Race, and Rage

In case you missed them, here’s a roundup of a few more interesting articles on the race and religion angle of the Barack Obama/Jeremiah Wright controversy: 

Christianity Today’s “Black Power from the Pulpit” is a great interview with Thabiti Anyabwile, author of The Decline of African American Theology.  
Newsweek.com has posted “Prophets and Politicians,” an equally fascinating interview with historian Edward J. [...]

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That Speech

Because of the theme of this blog and the topic of our conversation over the past few days, I feel obligated to post something here about “that speech.” But, man, this is one of those times when I really feel there’s nothing left to say—except maybe this: Barack Obama’s Philadelphia address from this morning, “A [...]

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The Jeremiah (Wright) Tradition

  Princeton professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell offers another challenging take on the Barack Obama/Jeremiah Wright controversy over at TheRoot.com. An excerpt:
This week Barack Obama was pressured to denounce Jeremiah Wright.  But in the hundred years following the end of the Civil War more than five thousand African Americans were lynched and not a single president denounced the [...]

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Does Obama Have a Prayer?

Wow. It’s been a busy week on the race front in American politics, hasn’t it? First, Geraldine Ferraro loses her cool and gets herself kicked off of Hillary Clinton’s campaign team. Then a video of a recent sermon/rant by Barack Obama’s retiring pastor, Jeremiah Wright, brings the Illinois Senator more unwanted love.
Is it [...]

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Why It’s Hard to Label Faith

Yesterday’s Orlando Sentinel featured an interesting commentary on the latest Pew study on the U.S. religious landscape. Written by David Steinmetz, a professor of Christian history at the Duke Divinity School, the Sentinel essay applauds the Pew study for its ambitious effort but cautions the Pew organization and others to not overlook the many nuances of identity [...]

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