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Essays

Sound Off: Recent Violence in Sacred Spaces

What connections may we draw between attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the Christchurch mosque shooting, African-American church arsons in Louisiana, the Easter Sunday bombing in Sri Lanka, and the synagogue shooting in San Diego?

Generation to Generation—2 Kings 2:1–2, 6–14

The younger generations are not waiting for the mantle to drop, they have taken it, and at every river, border, barrier, and distinction they are pushing back the waters that would drown us.

Walls/Borders: Visible Signs of Militarized Colonial Desires Past and Present

Borders signify the advancing presence of imperial desires and colonial fantasies of gradual yet total dispossession and disappearance of peoples of other nations that continue the founding settler colonial violence in the US.

“Get Up and Eat”: The Political Act of Feeding—1 Kings 19:1–15a

The posture that invites those who are struggling for freedom to “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you” is a political posture laden with messianic power.

Bearing Witness to the Lived Realities of Our Migrant Kin

We Christians who are citizens must be physically present on the border with México, that we might bear witness to the realities of what we experience alongside those who are most acutely affected by the policies of the current Administration.

The Dialogical Nature of Religious Freedom in Dignitatis Humanae

The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis Humanae proposes that humankind’s search for truth ought to take the form of dialogue, a reflection of the dialogical relationship between God and humankind.

Wisdom’s Place in the Creation—Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Wisdom is available to the entirety of creation, regardless of gender, class, race, or any boundary established by humanity.

Particular Identities in the Christian Multiverse

The import of particular identities for the national identity is not to be dismissed precisely because it is what the nationalist agenda attempts. This means that our religious discourse has to account for particular identity experiences as integral parts or building blocks of a multifaceted universal and not as something to be merely included or absorbed by a pre-existing universal condition.

Language and Diversity in the Divine Intention—Genesis 11:1–9

Rather than portraying human difference as the punishment of God, Babel and Pentecost are complementary stories, each highlighting God’s intention for cultural and linguistic diversity. As we draw near to Pentecost Sunday, may we also consider the inherent value of language as a cultural identity marker and partner as advocates for language preservation.

The Social Mortgage on National Sovereignty in the Immigration Debate

The prophetic role of the Church here is to crack open and break up this renewed parochial nationalism, and remind all of the words of Paul in Galatians 3:28, that regardless of background, we are all one in Jesus Christ.

Political Theology, Volume 20, Issues 3 and 4 are now available

New issues from the twentieth year of our journal feature articles on Hobbes, poverty, Indonesia, and more, as well as a special issue on Christos Yannaras.

Our Wrongs and God’s Right—Acts 16:16-34

Two wrongs don’t make a right—except, in today’s reading, they do.