I've spent part of the morning reading about the 17th century Scottish Covenanters who resisted the incursions of King Charles & Archbishop Laud into the Scottish Kirk, and I fear trouble may be brewing.

This is a timely essay.

This is a fine book, indeed -- beautifully written and succint. Raboteau profiles seven of the most consequential US theo-political radical reformers of the 20th century, revealing their myriad interconnections and common aims that crossed the boundaries of their religious diversity.

"Rather than seeing AI as a radical break from traditional authorship, our article suggests we're witnessing the latest evolution in a long history of collaborative creation." ~ @wtmcmaken.bsky.social

"Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.... For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." ~ Rev. 18:2-3

So that bit about Mao's cultural revolution at the end made me choke on my coffee. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...

Protecting our First Amendment freedom of worship should be a cause that unites people of faith across confessional and ideological differences.

Someone has set up a tracker of people who have "disappeared" in the US at the hands of the government's immigration enforcement agency

Four U.S. legislators who "get it": Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Sanders, Sen. Murphy, and now (most emphatically!), Sen. Booker. They have my attention, and I'm listening.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cory Booker breaks the record for longest Senate speech, previously held by segregationist Strom Thurmond.

New blog post: Prometheus's Three Challenges to #Christian Theology According to Czech theologian Jan Milíč Lochman. How the mythological #titan became a focal point in Marxist-Christian dialogues of the 1960s. Read more! #Theology #Marxism

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

True confession. I do observe Lent (to some extent), but I don't take it with the utmost seriousness. Holy Week is mainly what interests me.

truly kicking around the notion of a William Stringfellow Society as an ecumenical Christian resistance structure

Life is all about making difficult choices. www.lentmadness.org/2025/03/atha...

Right on. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/o...

Read this. barthcenter.substack.com/p/death-the-...

"Listen to this man" - #KarlBarth on William Stringfellow. 40 years after his death, Stringfellow's prophetic critique of #empire, consumerism and privatized #spirituality feels more urgent than ever. @jscottjackson.bsky.social

F. William Stringfellow -- lawyer, theologian, holy agitator -- entered into eternal life 40 years ago today. episcopalarchives.org/.../show/lea...

Ellison's Invisible Man is an incredible, mind-blowing read.

I wrote a primer on the work of William Stringfellow, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his death.

Today marks 40 years since William Stringfellow's passing - the lawyer, activist & Episcopal #theologian who challenged #America's moral powers. His work on "principalities and powers" remains vital for our fraught times. @jscottjackson.bsky.social

A very nice remembrance of Professor Marty from NPR.

A grassroots movement is calling on all Americans to abstain from shopping with major retailers tomorrow, February 28, as part of an “economic blackout.” I encourage you to join. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/boycott

Can't remember if I shared this already, so if I did, please indulge me a re-post. derevth.blogspot.com/2025/02/mark...

The homilist, channeling Walter Wink's reading of the RCL Gospel reading (Luke 6:27-38), said what is called for acts of "subversive love."

I heard a preacher today call out recent actions by the U.S. federal government "evil," a designation he says he doesn't use lightly. I recall Luther's statement, from the 1518 Heidelberg Disputation: "A theology of the cross calls a thing what it is."

Stay focused. Get organized. Don't panic.... And read this.

We are putting people in concentration camps for seeking asylum because they fear persecution for converting to Christianity. (I don't think my faith would have this kind of courage and commitment, to be honest)

I've been trying to lay low a bit when it comes to resurgence of tyranny in this country and world in recent times -- forces of tyranny whose ascendency (ironically enough) represents lawlessness & the usurpation of lawful authority. Trying to lay low... but rereading this book isn't helping.

Why are they so afraid of her?

Mr. Trump won 57% of the vote in Kansas. I'm sure he'll intercede with the President to do something about this!

"Their belongings were confiscated, including their Bibles, but that did not stop them from finding a way to worship and pray in detention." (2018)

"I saw this on display at the inauguration. In exchange for baubles like titles and medals and applauding crowds, those in high office handed over their moral freedom and prostrated themselves to the powers of death." ~ Mac Loftin

Pleased to find that @christiancentury.bsky.social has migrated to this website, "the good place."

"King is the single most important figure in modern American religious history, far more so than many of the usual suspects often granted that status." ~ Paul Harvey. Excited to find this book in a local public library.

Such cruelty. These are real people, for God's sake!

In 1973, Stringfellow called out the Nixonian lie the war in Indochina was "winding down," doublespeak that cloaked a massive military buildup. Declaiming lies from an official podium doesn't make them true. The text of the 14th Amendment may be found here: constitutioncenter.org/the-constitu...

"The powers enthrall, delude, and enslave human beings by estopping comprehension with 'doublespeak,' as Orwell named it." ~ William Stringfellow (An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land, 1973).

"Opportunies are everywhere." ~ AOC

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." ~ Matt. 10:16 (RSV). What might a passage like this mean for us today?

I finally got to the text of #Galatians - wonders never cease! "The book of Acts comes several decades after the letter to the Galatians. We have every reason to think that the story about #Paul told in Acts cleans things up"

My friend Bill Wright has started a substack. He's a much more "reasonable" protestant than I am, and definitely worth checking out.

New post from @wtmcmaken.bsky.social. Check it out! derevth.blogspot.com/2024/12/1-ap...

This is the best one-volume intro to Kierkegaard I've found so far. www.goodreads.com/book/show/52...

omg this made me laugh so hard.