Resisting the Single Story: What Advent Teaches About Power
By Laurie Nichols
Every powerful system has a way of telling its own story.
It tells us who matters, who gets to speak, and who should stay quiet. It rewards certainty and punishes nuance.
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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By Laurie Nichols
Every powerful system has a way of telling its own story.
It tells us who matters, who gets to speak, and who should stay quiet. It rewards certainty and punishes nuance.
By Kenji Kuramitsu
Terror has struck, and once again a great grief has opened before us.
I won’t recount the litany. We know the nausea, the shock, the dizzying cadence of such reckless hate.
By Elli Atchison
The summer of 2014 was an ugly one in Israel and Palestine. The media was filled with reports of a war that devastated Gaza, and filled Israel and the West Bank with anxiety and fear.
By Sarah Withrow King and Rev. Carlos Malavé
The island of Puerto Rico is home to 3.4 million people, and they are suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Many of us want to help, but don’t know where to start.
By Carolyn Custis James
“Christianity has an image problem among American youth.”
–David Kinnaman, Barna Group
In his ominously-titled book, The End of White Christian America, Robert P. Jones (CEO, Public Religion Research Institute) chronicles the decline of the white American church.
From The Many
A moment of beauty to start the week: Watch CSA’s Darren Calhoun and The Many singing “All Belong Here.”
By Chuck Bomar
Life in every community revolves around a different center. College towns revolve around the university calendar. Local restaurants are busy from September through April, and then the rhythm changes during the summer months.
By John Seel, Ph.D.
Life can put one’s emotions into a pressure cooker. Nothing does this more than family challenges. My tight-knit family is dealing with the combination of a funeral and wedding within a month of each other.
By Elrena Evans
The world is a broken place, and when I look around I see that brokenness writ large. White supremacists are marching in the streets. Floodwaters are seeping into the homes of people I love.
From CSA
“Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed…” Isaiah 1:17
Earlier this month, several patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem issued a statement condemning various acts in Jerusalem that restricted the rights of churches on their own property.
By Veronica Timbers
Here are some practical applications for pushing back against the harm of the Nashville Statement and taking collective action toward justice. Just for fun, I will use “The Statement’s” format to present my ideas for a collective—and active—rebuttal.
By Benjamin Capps
Dear white, suburban, Christian brothers and sisters,
Like many of you, on the evening of Saturday August 12th, my eyes were glued to the unfolding events scrolling across the screen of my phone—my mouth open, stomach turning, head swirling and palms sweating as my body reacted to what I was seeing.
From CSA
Watch an in-depth interview with CSA Deputy Director Sarah Withrow King about why caring for animals is a faithful witness of the peaceful kingdom that God desires, and Jesus modeled.
By Jon Carlson
The last week of August, while the floodwaters were rising in Houston, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood released a statement “declaring once again the true story of the world and of our place in it—particularly as male and female.” Over fourteen articles, the authors offer a series of “affirmations” and “denials” regarding theological, philosophical, and psychological questions pertaining to LGBTQ+ individuals.
By Kathy Khang
Instead of sitting and seething over yet another debacle initiated in the name of law and order, here are seven things you can DO:
By Brian Lugioyo
Let me preface my response by saying that I hold a conservative view of sex and marriage, one closer to Augustine than to the common evangelical position that implicitly rejects friendship and explicitly idolizes marriage.
By Lianne Simon
The recently published Nashville Statement represents the beliefs of a coalition of conservative evangelical leaders regarding same-sex marriage, gender identity, and even intersex.