If evil is the privation or perversion of a good, the real evil in the old-new Brazilian meaning of “corruption” is the dereliction of the divine goodness in the human neighbor and the nonfeasance neglect of God’s living presence amid the oppressed.
There is a connection between addressing toilet provision as a justice issue and accepting the fact that no one can live without eliminating waste.
It is the crucified Christ who sends us out to his sisters and brothers who are being crucified by the powers-that-be every day. Are we willing to do what Jesus requires and die in the process? Or will we deny Jesus in order to save ourselves?
There is perhaps no biblical virtue more foreign to the contemporary Western mind than hospitality. For us, the deeply ethical connotations of hospitality for the stranger—the resident alien or refugee—have been largely replaced with a call for general neighborliness and an often all-too-partisan welcome.
The story of the Ascension in Acts alerts us to the task of faithfully waiting and witnessing.
Paul’s statements concerning the peoples in his Areopagus speech in Athens have historically been used as justification for racism and Apartheid. There are, however, other ways to understand his claims.