This Online Articles area (formerly our Library) gathers reflections, op-eds, and essays that engage the pressing questions of faith, justice, and public life. Here, you’ll find hundreds of thoughtful and engaging pieces from scholars, practitioners, and everyday Christians — leaders and writers who bring fresh insight and faithful imagination. These articles are meant to spark deeper discipleship, fuel courageous action, and equip the church to embody the gospel in a complex world. We invite you to explore, learn, and join the ongoing conversation toward a fuller expression of Christian faithfulness and a more just society.
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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 Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon
(Editor’s note: We’re honored to welcome Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon as a regular contributor to Christians for Social Action moving forward. Dr. Cannon is an author, scholar, and activist who has spent decades working at the intersection of faith, justice, and peacemaking in the Middle East.
By Melanie Springer Mock
Textbook orders for the spring semester were due in a few days, the 2024 presidential election still a month away. In January, I’d begin teaching International Women’s Literature for the first time in 20 years, and to freshen up my reading list, I added several books from “best of” lists—authors I’d not read before, but whose work seemed appropriate for the course’s objectives.
Reviewed By Bill White
A compelling and compassionate invitation to read the Bible with honesty, integrity, and the healing lens of Jesus.
Better Ways to Read the Bible (Baker Book House, 2025) is a dangerous book.
By Rohadi Nagassar
The words of the Apostle Thomas, uttered days after the resurrection, have lived on in infamy. His disbelief that Jesus had truly conquered death made him understandably skeptical:
“Unless I see in his hands the holes from the nails, and put my finger into those holes, and put my hand on his side, I’ll never believe.”
Later, Jesus appears again.
By Amanda Martinez Beck
When Jesus appears to the disciples while they are hiding behind locked doors after the crucifixion, his first words are, “Peace be with you!” (Luke 24:36-49). Luke tells us the disciples are “startled and frightened,” and to calm them—to give them the peace he just offered—Jesus shows them his hands and feet.
By Kenji Kuramitsu
“As surely as sparks fly upwards, so too are human beings born to trouble.” —Job 5:7
Our short sojourn on this side of eternity is inevitably marked by pain and loss.
By CSA Staff
CSA is thrilled to welcome Laurie Nichols as our new Director of Communications. A lifelong storyteller and strategic communicator, Laurie brings more than two decades of experience helping people and organizations tell the truth—about God, the world, and themselves.
By AnaYelsi Velasco Sánchez
“The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture.” —Walter Brueggemann
Liberation Starts in the Imagination
For me, justice begins with radical imagination.
By Mark Glanville
Justice work isn’t just about policy and protest, it’s also about creating beauty. To pursue justice effectively it should include knowing and making with an artistic intuition. There is a woven kinship of artists who are Christ followers: we are they who seek to hear and see clearly.
By CSA Staff
What does it look like when faith goes beyond the pulpit?
In this episode of 20 Minute Takes, CSA Executive Director Nikki Toyama-Szeto sits down with Eugene Cho, president of Bread for the World and longtime pastor, to talk about the intersection of faith, justice, and hunger.
By Liz Cooledge Jenkins
What happens when faith is co-opted for power? We are far from the first Christians to find ourselves forced to address this question. In A People’s History of Christianity, historian Diana Butler Bass traces 2,000 years of push and pull between one version of Christianity that cozies up to power—or seeks to seize it outright—and another version that sides with the people oppressed by this very same power.
By Mark Glanville
Introduction: Learning from Canada’s Journey
As we seek a path through racial injustice toward a more joyful future, it can be helpful to consider how societies outside the United States walk this path.
By CSA Staff
What happens when caring for the planet becomes a spiritual discipline?
In a new episode of 20 Minute Takes, host Nikki Toyama-Szeto speaks with Lauren Kim, National Organizer and Spokesperson for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action (YECA).
Compiled by CSA staff
CSA is thrilled to welcome Avril Speaks as Program Director for our new national initiative, the Storytellers Collective. A visionary filmmaker, producer, and educator based in Los Angeles, Avril brings deep experience in shaping stories that center truth, justice, and imagination.
By AnaYelsi Velasco Sánchez
Names to remember: Victims of police violence
Andy Lopez (13) – Shot and killed in 2013 by a police officer who saw him walking with an airsoft gun.
Tamir Rice (12) – Shot and killed in 2014 by a police officer who saw him playing with a toy pellet gun.
By CSA Staff
What happens when worship music tells the truth?
In a new episode of 20 Minute Takes, Nikki Toyama-Szeto sits down with Malcolm du Plessis and Jalen Seawright from Common Hymnal — a collective of artists and misfits reshaping Christian worship.
By Ben Norquist
An “Ultra for Peace”
I ran 50 miles in a day.
It was the longest run of my life—physically, emotionally, spiritually. But it wasn’t just a race. It was an indignant plea for justice.