The Bible, and human history, and each of our own journeys, are such mixed bags. So much beauty and so much heartbreak. This seems to simply be a feature of the human condition, that we are capable of such high highs and low lows. We love and hate; we create and destroy.
So when our writers engage in theological reflection and connect our daily lives with the pages of scripture, almost anything can happen. Isaac Villegas sees the ordinariness of Jesus after the resurrection and ponders what it means for our experience of the Easter gospel. Yolanda Pierce ties Pentecost to her own history with the Black church—as both a faith tradition and a language. But some reckonings with faith and reality are less celebratory. Jessica Mesman reviews four books on sexual assault and the church, while Stephanie Perdew takes stock of the church’s ongoing colonialism.
“It sounds underwhelming as a reason for the resurrection—that Jesus conquers death so he can come back and be with his disciples, enjoy another meal, fellowship around the fire, linger with his friends for as long as he can. But that’s what God has wanted from eternity: to be with us.”
“Language is the embodiment of experience, and the language of the Black church taught me to be certain of the justice and goodness of God, in contrast to the injustice and cruelty of humanity.”
“Church reforms sought under the guise of decolonizing our theology, liturgy, or institutional practices are not the same as decolonization’s one and only goal: returning Indigenous lands to Indigenous hands.”
