On faith and justice (and friends)

I have just returned from a trip to San Francisco! I was there for a moving and thought-provoking conference by the Center for Faith & Justice. I attended on behalf of my alma mater, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, which partners with the Center. Anyway, while there I had two surprise meetings with fellow attendees: one friend I have known only on Twitter, and one I haven’t spoken to since we met on a mission trip in 2006! (Also I am getting old.)

As for the conference themes themselves—faith and justice—they align quite well with the work we do here at the Century. If you’re interested in faith this week, check out this review of a one-man play about Ecclesiastes or this review of David Bentley Hart’s book about tradition. If you’re more in the mood to explore justice, here is an interview with Willie Francois III about theological education inside prisons.

No video this week, but don’t miss our brand new First Words column from our publisher Peter Marty about the need for a new masculinity in our culture.

Email me: Tell me about a random or unexpected meeting you’ve had.

Jon Mathieu
[email protected]

Ecclesiastes as a one-man show

“Rodney Brazil had me from the classic, opening line, ‘Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless,’ delivered with drily comic resolve. His fedora and duffel bag indicated the journey he had taken to that moment on stage and invited us to join him in Qoheleth’s often daunting thought experiment.”

by Lisa M. Wolfe

David Bentley Hart’s apocalyptic view of tradition

“For Hart, tradition, properly understood, posits that the church is nothing if not profoundly future-oriented, eschatological, living toward an unknown future kingdom for which it longs.”

We need a better masculinity

“On the American scene in recent years, millions of men nervous about their loss of cultural centrality have turned to hypermasculine posturing and regressive gender politics.”

by Peter W. Marty

In the Lectionary for February 5 (Epiphany 5A)

Ritual and justice don’t exist in a push-pull relationship.

by Steve Thorngate
 

Theology in carceral context

“It is profoundly important to us to have faculty who are connected to this work. Two of our faculty members at Sing Sing are alums of the program, formerly incarcerated men. One now leads a coalition against mass incarceration in the New York area.”

Willie Francois III, interviewed by Amy Frykholm

“Siblings”

“I could not, for the life of me, understand
why Genesis moved so soon to murder—
to fratricide. But then I had kids . . .”