An Editor’s Take on Megan Basham’s ‘Shepherds for Sale’
September 2, 2024 Everybody loves an editor. (Ha, that’s the closest you’ll get to an editor joke.) The truth is, nobody likes being told all the ways they could have said what they said better. But it’s also true that every writer needs a good editor, which is why I never like to publish or […]
Why Is There Anti-Semitism…Then and Now? Q&A with Matthew Umbarger
Why is there anti-Semitism throughout history and even in our own times? Matthew Umbarger is a Catholic scholar who spent nine years studying the Old Testament in Israel (PhD in Hebrew Bible from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev). He has long had a heart for understanding and loving the Jewish people. I recently caught up […]
Let’s Talk About the Word ‘Woke’
The word woke has had a curious life. Like so much slang, it was introduced by Black people, co-opted by youngish white people, and then ruined by oldish white people. Its meaning has changed over time. The expression goes back as far as May 20, 1962, when William Melvin Kelley used it in the New […]
Living History: Reflections on Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. For some, it’s a day off work or school. For others, it’s a day of contemplation and reflection. For Memphis, it’s a reminder that history unfolds right in front of us. White Station Church of Christ, where I serve as Senior Minister, was planted in its neighborhood in […]
Racial Tension and the Church – Louisville Regional Gathering
At the Louisville Regional RENEW.org Gathering in 2022, five church leaders sat down together to discuss current cultural topics churches face. They were RENEW.org’s point leader Bobby Harrington; Anthony Walker of Hwy 231 Church of Christ; Nate Ross of Northside Christian Church (host of the event); Orpheus Heyward of Renaissance Church of Christ; and Matt […]
Bible Verses About Race: An Exploration of What the Bible Really Teaches
If you’re looking for Bible verses about race, you’re in for a surprise: race isn’t a category we find in the Bible. Even though there are genealogies which explain where various ethnicities come from, all people trace back to the same pair of humans, created by God in his image to display his glory. The […]
Racism, Mass Shootings, and Our Enemy’s Strategies
If we want to truly understand racism and mass shootings, we will think through our enemy’s strategies. The same Devil who blinds a murderous person from seeing another person’s humanity blinds people after a tragedy from seeing the real enemy. In John 9, John gives an account of Jesus healing a blind man. His blindness […]
How Should We View Races and Ethnicities?
This is Question #3 in Carol M. Swain’s Countercultural Living: The Teachings of Jesus on Life, Marriage, Race, Gender, and Materialism.
