Check out my book review of Engaging the Old Testament: How to Read Biblical Narrative, Poetry, and Prophecy Well by Dominick S. Hernández. This review can be found in the January 2025 issue of the Religious Studies Review: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rsr.17566
1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
2. Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk
3. God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life by Catherine Mowry Lacugna
4. After Method: Queer Grace, Conceptual Design, and the Possibility of Theology by Hanna Reichel
5. The Development of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Yoruba (African) Indigenous Christian Movement by Caleb Oluremi Oladipo
6. On First Principles by Origen
7. The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh: Pentecostalism and the Possibility of Global Theology by Amos Yong
8. So We and Our Children May Live: Following Jesus in Confronting the Climate Crisis by Sarah Augustine
9. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
10. Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity by Joerg Rieger
11. The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men by Vine Deloria Jr.
Merry Christmas! Tis
the season of love and hope –
mindful of the trials
and tribulations of now –
and those yet to come –
but joyful that we are not
alone – God with us!
For Native American Heritage Month, the General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) asked me to write a study guide for Sarah Augustine’s powerful text, “The Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery.” I’m very happy with the collaborative outcome and wanted to share it with folks in case the book study fits with what your church, faith community, or book club is looking for this month and beyond.
Here is the link to the resource: https://www.r2hub.org/library/the-land-is-not-empty-book-study
“And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
I hear much about faith and hope these days from Christians to celebrate Trump’s victory, or to silence those despairing the results. But what is meant by faith and hope in these messages? One message a proclamation of salvific victory in a deeply flawed human being, and one a bludgeon to silence those who disagree. For me, the answer is found in “the greatest of these:” Love. How must we center love to resist cheap hope and false faith? 
“We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 8-10).
As we explore what faith and hope rooted in love means, it is first important to note that God commands us away from despair. This is the current struggle of my own heart-faith work. However, it is clear to me that I can be perplexed and mournful, but not giving into despair.
Faith and hope are critical to resisting despair.
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
After washing his disciples’ feet, a non-hierarchical and countercultural activity of humility and service, and also sharing a meal with his disciples, Jesus gives the commandment to love one another. This love is an action, a lifestyle, a way of being, that is observable and has a communal impact.
Washing feet as humble service; Eating together as fellowship and community building. These are the actions of love that Jesus is calling us into. And this active/communal love is the root of hope and faith.
Hope and face are not excuses to be passive and to ignore the suffering of humans and creation around us. Hope and faith that bare such fruits are cheap and fake. Hope and faith that bare fruits of harm and domination are evil and anti-Christ.
Love-rooted-Faith is the belief in God’s promise of peace and well-being for all creation.
Love-rooted-Hope is the state of being that washes over us from faith.
And Love, the very Being of God, is the source of divine strength that urges us into communal action based on faith and hope. Communal action that co-creates with God the promise of peace and well-being for all creation. God’s one day fully realized Kin-dom.
This day has not yet come. The dominating, violent, exclusionary, deceitful, and blasphemous promises of Trump will make the realization of that day harder.
But I refuse to despair. Love-rooted-Faith and Love-rooted-Hope, I must. For “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).
I am not alone. We are not alone. God is with us. And we are called into action based on this love-rooted faith and hope to fight for the well-being of all people and creation.
May we make it so.
Amen.
I am proud to have voted for the Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz presidential ticket. While I do have policy and ethical issues with some of the tickets’ policies, there is more potential for positive change through advocacy and lobbying within the Harris/Walz ticket than with the Trump/Vance ticket.
I support the Harris/Walz ticket for three reasons. First, I believe that the policy and personal integrity of the Harris/Walz ticket better reflects the Christian faith values that I hold, especially when you take seriously Christ’s gospel ministry proclamation in Luke 4:14-21, as well as the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. I think that character matters and that the words people say matters. I respect how Harris and Walz present themselves and the ways in which they interact with others.
Second, this is a personal election. As Connor and I imagine having a family, a Trump presidency would put that into question. I take seriously the words of Trump, Clarence Thomas, Project 2025, and others when they suggest the overturning of same-sex marriage and the outlawing of same-sex couple adoption. Even if such restrictive proposals were sequestered within only certain states and we remained safe in Illinois, traveling into states that would not recognize our marriage would be dangerous. For example, if we had a car accident on our drive to visit family in other states, the hospitals in another state could keep Connor, me, and our kids apart. This is not a future that I want for any family, let alone my own, thus I eagerly support Harris/Walz who advocate for all families, including LGBTQIA+ families.
Third, Harris and Walz represent the diversity of America in a way that Trump/Vance do not. Harris and Walz exude integrity and genuineness in their relationships with their families, friends, and constituents. Furthermore, I cannot wait to vote for a fellow Nebraskan! Go big red!
For these reasons, I cast my vote for the Harris/Walz presidential ticket. I am happy to chat with folks who are unsure OR folks who disagree with me. I just ask that you please DM, text, or call me, not write in the comments. This post is a personal testimony, not an invitation for battles in the comment section.
And no matter what, please exercise your civic duty and make your voice heard: VOTE!
I will be praying for all Americans, for all candidates, for peace across the globe, and for all God’s beloved creation.
Thank you and God bless!
Whoops! I totally forgot to post about this publication:
Check out my review of Megan Loumagne Ulishney’s book, Original Sin and the Evolution of Sexual Difference, in the February 2024 issue of the Religious Studies Review, Volume 49, Issue 4: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/rsr.16820
Christians on political “sides” subscribe to a binary and oppositional understanding of our faith and political engagement that causes separation, harm, and idolatry.
Republicans, especially in the new Trump era, have increasingly synthesized salvific hope and politics toward a Divine King/Strong-Man Nationalism theology. This is problematic since Christ brought salvation in a way antithetical to cultural/political power, control, and exclusion. Instead, he offered preferential and tangible hope for the oppressed/marginalized. He frequently challenged, and even condemned, the power players perpetuating inequality. Ascribing divine privilege to a power-player, like Trump, toward the ends of Christian nationalist control, is idolatry.
On the flipside, Democrats often want to silence faith-led conviction in the polis, falsely believing that a true separation of faith/politics, public/private, secular/sacred is possible. This leads to an idolatry of law, legal systems, and political figures as the sites of salvation and hope.
Christians must be constantly self-reflective and challenge ourselves away from the allure of false-hopes within these camps. Our salvation is in Christ. The gospel message leads us to discern and question all powers that exist if their outcomes are not equivalent to the criteria of Christ’s ministry pronouncement of Luke 4:14-30, or the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.
Neither party does this. There is no easy-answer to the challenge of discerning and voting with our conscience based on these faith-based criteria. Consequently, no party should have our faith and devotion. No PAC or politically activated denominational or faith-based political platform should have our faith and devotion. No nation or national symbol should have our faith and devotion. No power, system, or institution of humankind should have our faith and devotion. Only the gospel message of Jesus Christ, which commands us to love God and our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31), and the subsequent discernment and action of the Holy Spirit in our individual and communal lives, should have our faith and devotion. All else is idolatry. Idolatry that leads to hate and violence in our hearts (and sometimes actions) toward others not like us, or those who hold different values. God clearly warns against this in Matthew 5:43-48.
As the divisive and violent party-driven rhetoric amps up in the next few months, I pray that I, and all of us who follow Christ, remember this counter-cultural message. I pray that we strive to be presences of mediation and love during these volatile times. May the gospel message that we proclaim and live-out be good news for all, not for some. May our words, actions, and lives point to God’s peaceable kingdom on Earth now, as it is in heaven.
We CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Amen.
Check out my review of Joerg Rieger’s book, Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity, in the latest issue of Religious Studies Review, Volume 50, Issue 1: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rsr.16962
1. When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, edited by Joy Harjo, with LeAnne Howe and Jennifer Elise Foerster
2. Poet, the Warrior, the Prophet, by Rubem Alves
3. Decolonial Christianities: Latinx and Latin American Perspectives, edited by Raimundo Barreto and Roberto Sirvent
4. Reading and Writing the Lakota Language, by Albert White Hat Sr.
5. Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization, by Elaine Enns and Ched Myers
6. Galatians: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, by Nancy Elizabeth Bedford
7. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
8. Complaint!, by Sara Ahmed
9. Faith and Freedom in Galatia and Senegal: The Apostle Paul, Colonists and Sending Gods, by Aliou Cissé Niang
10. Trading Futures: A Theological Critique of Financialized Capitalism, by Filipe Maia
Deacon Grant 