Social Gospel
A Disembodied Head? Part 11: Unity
20 “I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, 21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe […]
A Balanced Image of Christ
An interesting reminder from the blog Students of Jesus that Christ not only ate with sinners and chastised pharisees. He also ate with pharisees and healed their children. Here is a taste: In modern society we love to point out that Jesus ate with tax collectors and prostitutes. He crossed social boundaries. He was the friend of […]
Can the Social Gospel Be a Form of Idolatry?
Scot McKnight answers this question in the affirmative. Here is his take: “For [the one] who has lost God the people [or, the nation]can be a first station on [a] new way.” These are the words of Martin Buber, that brilliant Jewish philosopher. He is reflecting here on the loss of his pietist roots in Hasidic […]
Update from Rob Martin
Yesterday I posted about an attempt from The Simple Way to speak to the injustice they see in Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s proposed ordinance basically abolishing feeding the homeless unless you have permits and do it at approved places. My friend Rob Martin decided to participate in this gathering, and wrote about the experience over […]
Picking on the Homeless: Update
My friend Rob Martin will be heading into Philly to participate in an act of civil disobedience with The Simple Way this afternoon around 4:00. Here are some of the detail On Thursday 22nd March, The Simple Way and family will be having a little love feast/radical “food sharing” at Thomas Paine Plaza. We will break some bread […]
Picking on the Homeless
In recent weeks, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and the department of health in the city have been championing regulations that would prohibit outdoor distribution of food to the homeless. This seems like the worst of big government intervening with sweeping legislation to solve an occasional problem. I thought I would share the following thoughtful response […]
A Good Use of 30 Minutes
Take the time to watch this video. It is 30 minutes long, and I’d suggest actually turning off your cell phone, clearing some mental space and really focusing on the content. There are two important things going on here. The first, and most important, is a call to action to tell our government that sometimes […]
Thoughts on the Criminal Justice System
In this TED Talk, Bryan Stevenson challenges his listeners to evaluate whether the current way that our criminal justice system is run is working. We spend billions of dollars, but rarely are willing to ask the hard questions about whether it is working. In short, I don’t think it is. Perhaps his best challenge: rather […]
How Not to Do International Aid
Found this post a week ago or so, but wanted to share it with you. Matador Change highlighted what it calls the seven worst international aid ideas. Here are the intro, the seven ideas, and the conclusion: Maybe their hearts were in the right place. Maybe not. Either way, these are solid contenders for the […]
No Longer Normal 