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CSA’s free weekly publication, a carefully curated collection of original articles at the intersection of spiritual formation and social action.
By Andre Henry
“If a man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he has the power to lynch me, that’s my problem.” When Stokely Carmichael said these words, he underscored the connection between racism and power.
By Mars Adema
If Christ is our model as Christians, then why don’t our lives look like his?
I was spiritually formed in my Christian faith within the lap of luxury, but I was unaware of it at the time.
By Andre Henry
Originally published January 21, 2019
Today, Americans celebrate the legacy and work of one of the most prominent figures of the Civil Rights Movement: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Yes, Dr.
By Liz Cooledge Jenkins
When we become aware that there is tension between our political views and what love requires of us, we can change our political views. We “love our neighbors well” not only by caring for them directly but also by caring about the policies that impact their lives, often in devastating ways. Love and our politics do not have to exist in tension. We can let love shape our politics.
By Irwyn Ince
Growing up in a city like New York, you get used to a hustle. You might even end up doing a little hustling yourself. The hustler offers someone something of value, or something another person may desire.
By J. Mark Bowers
When the newborn King arrived on the margins, economically and physically on the wrong side of power, His agenda was larger than just rescuing me or you. He had the entire cosmos in mind. While Jesus came to save us from our personal sins, His work on the cross put all things right again, including the systems of the world (Colossians 1:19-20).
By Elrena Evans
God, we are weary. We have traveled for many miles, and we still aren’t home.
By Michael Stalcup
We were almost used
to living in the dark,
to being powerless,
that day you quietly
pulled the lid off the sky
of a world below
By Kelley Nikondeha
The Spirit is moving farther and farther from the centers of power and propriety toward those most victimized by the empire.
And then God reaches deep into the social fray, stretching all the way to a band of shepherds. The whole of society is embraced by Emmanuel—God with all of us, right down to the lowliest shepherd!
By David Michaux
The Magnificat is not a prayer from the quiet and timid girl we see in Renaissance paintings. The Magnificat is a prayer for social and political upheaval. The Magnificat has revolutionary teeth. The Magnificat is about the powerful deeds of the Mighty God.
By Scott Bessenecker
The empires of this world exploit the vulnerable. Its economics reward those who plunder the environment. Money gravitates to the center while some people are pushed to the margins. In contrast, the economics in the land of God are centrifugal, pushing resources out to the edges. The social forces are magnetic, drawing the excluded into the center.
By John Dear
The gospels portray Jesus of Nazareth as the most active person of nonviolence in the history of the world. He taught a glorious vision of nonviolence: “Love your enemies. Blessed are the peacemakers. Put down your sword. Be as compassionate as God. Hunger and thirst for justice. Seek first God’s reign and God’s justice.” As his followers, we are forbidden to support war, killings, executions, nuclear weapons, corporate greed, environmental destruction, or violence of any kind. More, we are sent into the culture of violence and war on a mission of prophetic peacemaking and active nonviolent resistance to evil.
By Lisa Sharon Harper
Patriarchal interpretations of Scripture fail to start at the beginning. They started after the Fall, in genesis 3. As a result, they present observations of a fallen world as if the current state is in line with God’s good intentions. That is far from the truth. What God called very good was before the Fall!
By Carol R. Cool
The biblical perspective is for us to live in wholeness, which includes a generous sufficiency of things. Poverty is a bad thing; God wants us to have all we need for a joyous life. God wants no one to be poor.
By Christina Edmondson
This is the second installation in our Chicago Declaration Series which celebrates the 50th anniversary of CSA’s founding document, the Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern. The Chicago Declaration, signed by 53 Evangelical leaders in 1973, was written as a call for Christians to engage in issues of justice and to reject racism, economic injustice, violence, and sexism.
By Amy Reynolds
The Chicago Declaration Series is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern, a document drafted in 1973 by several evangelical faith leaders, and signed by 53 signatories.
By Bill White
From the back of the gymnasium/fellowship hall, I counted 249 church-goers and leaders, and every one of them was leaning in. No one was on their phone—no, they were too intent on trying to make sense of the unusual scene unfolding in front of them.
CSA is a group of Christian scholar-activists, stirring the imagination for a fuller expression of Christian faithfulness and a more just society.
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