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Joseph Scrivner

Rev. Joseph Scrivner, Ph.D., serves in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as Pastor for Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and as Dean of Chapel at Stillman College. As a preacher, he was inducted into the Morehouse College Board of Preachers. As a scholar, he has written brief articles on the Bible and co-authored a Hebrew handbook. As a college administrator, he has secured several grants, including an award from Lilly, Inc., for the Thriving Congregations Program. As a community member, he serves as a Trustee for the Presbyterian Home for Children. He earned a Ph.D. in Old Testament from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Essays

The Prophet, Pigmentation, and Pottersville

When we think about Christmas, do we associate it with charity or justice? Christmas certainly appears to be associated with charity in our larger culture. In contrast, Isaiah 9:2–7 reminds us that the lectionary readings for the season consistently focus on justice.

Walter Wink’s Blind Spot: Passivity as Resistance

I am sympathetic to what I perceive as Wink’s larger goal in this interpretation. He wants to remove the option of reading Jesus’s words as endorsing toleration of abuse. He is rightly aware of and duly burdened by too many examples in the history of Christendom in which the powerful have used a command like “do not resist evildoers” as a rationale for submission to injustice.

The Binary is Black But Breakable

Simply put, Black men are the most loyal group of male voters for the Democratic candidate for president. Their slightly lower numbers for Hillary Clinton in 2016 rebounded for Joe Biden in 2020. Their loyalty to Democrats in this regard is surpassed only by Black women.