Seminary students, in my experience, are perennially shocked when they read passages from the Koran that feature Jesus or Abraham.

Some of them also get really angry when Allah is translated as "God."

All of this is the result of "othering" people who believe differently I don't mean to say that there aren't clear distinctions, but the biggest struggle I have found among all students has been getting them to see those of different religions as good, rational and loving people

Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, champion of the Nicene Creed, original defender of Orthodoxy against Arianism, was Black.

Yet, with the exception of a handful of the oldest icons of him, he is normally depicted in white, European skin tones He was described by friends as being "short of stature" and with dark skin tone. His enemies' favorite written perjorative was "the black dwarf." He was an Egyptian (oh yeah, ethnic Egyptians (not the later Greek/Roman occupiers) were also Black)

This is a thread about Texas politics (and @GregAbbott_TX specifically). If you're not from Texas, sorry.

Greg Abbott is up for reelection in 2022. Let's talk about why he needs to be voted out. I don't care if it's a republican or a democrat, he just needs to be out (1/) In 1986 Abbott won a massive lawsuit against the homeowner and the tree removal company that left him in a wheelchair. And I do not want to begrudge him any of that. He's issue a monthly stipend and regular lump sums. He should be, they took his legs (2/)

Here's something that we don't talk about enough in churches. Music is very evocative and emotive. As such it is very easy to be used manipulatively.

In college, I had more than one conversation with music majors about how certain chord progressions can make you feel (1/7) Some create a euphoric endorphin rush. Others will move you to tears. Not a single play of it, but when put into certain types of progression and layered well, yes. This is why certain songs always have that feeling. That's not inherently a bad thing

@RedeemedRags I will try to be brief, but I will likely fail because a) I'm pretty verbose and b) there's a lot of variety and nuance within it: @RedeemedRags CRT, like many Critical Theories, came out of Academic Legal studies. Essentially wanting to know why the gains made in the 1960s in Civil Rights did not continue at the same pacing as during the Civil Rights

Reflecting on Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3, and their converse found in Joel 3 (and the interpretation offered by Jesus in Matthew 26).

God will beat swords into plowshares and spears into fishhooks Those who stubbornly commit to their instruments of war, and who fight against the way of peace will be destroyed by that very commitment to instruments of violence

Ok, where to begin. There is so much wrong with this blog that some of it is outright heretical. But let's dive right into.

The biggest mistakes Shenvi makes throughout are primarily overgeneralization based on (his) false assumption and category mistakes. Let's talk about that.

https://twitter.com/NeilShenvi/status/1373968322950217728

First, let's discuss some of overgeneralizations based on false assumptions. Hardly anyone working in anti-racism is arguing that corporate repentance is required for salvation. Shenvi spends an inordinate amount of time tearing down an argument that, frankly, no one is making

Let's talk about "wokeness" and the bible. When the teacher of the law asks Jesus "who is (εστιν) my neighbor?" in the well known parable of the Good Samartian (Luke 10: 35-37), we could talk at length about the social/power dynamics, or religious and ethnic discrimination (1/) But I want to focus at the end; Jesus changes the question in typical Midrash style and asks the teacher, "Who became the neighbor?" He doesn't use the same verb as the teacher (εστιν), but uses the much more active verb of being (γινομαι) (here in the perfect γεγονεναι) (2/)

In a few conversations, I've been asked: what is Christian Nationalism? Christian Nationalism is when someone blends their theology so completely with their politics, that certain political acts become tests of faith and vice versa. In the thread below I'll give some examples This is not a comprehensive list and some are more overt/troubling than others:
-Claiming a religious group is "not American" (or your country)
-Banning entry from a specific religious group
-Having the country's flags on display prominently every week during the weekly gathering