Latest from ESALet It Die: Why More Churches Should Embrace Institutional DeathSeptember 24, 2018By Chanequa Walker-Barnes “No one with a brain really believes in religion,” the man declared. It was an odd way to respond to my revelation that I was a seminary professor. I had never seen him at the gluten-free coffeehouse before. He was standing in line just a few feet…... Read more...Living With TerrorSeptember 21, 2018By Elrena Evans “Three babies and two adults were injured after being stabbed in a private day care facility in Queens early Friday, officials said.” ~ New York Post, 9/21/2018 “An employee…fatally shot three co-workers and injured three others before killing herself Thursday morning, police said.” ~ The Baltimore Sun,…... Read more...Principled Pluralism Creates Space for AllSeptember 20, 2018By Shapri LoMaglio When asked whether Jews should pay taxes to the Roman government that was ruling over them, Jesus’ deft response in Matthew 22:21 to “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” not only evaded the political snare that had been set for…... Read more...Addressing Difference in a Divided NationSeptember 19, 2018If you want to appeal to people, you need to speak to their concerns—not yours. By Jonathan Haidt Note: Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business, examining the foundations of morality and how morality varies across cultural and political divides. He gave the…... Read more...Cheap Thrills: Why Do We Choose Consumerism Over Community?September 18, 2018By Allison Duncan On a drive to visit my family, a billboard for a jeweler showed me a picture of a diamond ring with a speech bubble that said, “It’s time you told your boyfriend about me.” “You didn’t think we’d forget, did you?” purred an ad I got from…... Read more...Examining Greed and Idolatry: Practicing the King’s EconomySeptember 17, 2018By Michael Rhodes, Robby Holt, and Brian Fikkert From Genesis to Revelation, we see that one of our Creator King’s primary qualities is his lavish generosity. We are made in the image of this generous King, wired to reflect his generosity to the rest of creation. Indeed, giving back to God and…... Read more...Ron Sider Reflects on 45 Years of Evangelical Social ActionSeptember 14, 2018By Andre Henry At the time, the thought of dozens of evangelicals, young and old, convening to meet and talk about economic injustice, racism, gender equality, and other social justice issues was unheard of. But that is what happened in Chicago, in 1973. Some of today’s most prominent justice advocates…... Read more...Moving Past Fear Through Story: A Review of “Disruptive Witness”September 13, 2018By Amanda Martinez Beck A decade ago, I was pursuing my master’s degree at Baylor University, researching the idea of hospitality as social justice in Latin American short story. The stories I read challenged the filter I had been brought up with as the daughter of a Cuban refugee. It…... Read more...Undoing DominationSeptember 12, 2018By Michael Anthony Howard There are about 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone. It is amazing when you think about it. The Milky Way isn’t even very big. Every star has an approximate average of 1.6 planets. So, if you do the arithmetic, that’s 650 billion planets. The Earth…... Read more...
