Unsettling Advent 2023, Day 21
For the final devotional exploring Advent in a time of bloodshed in Israel, Brian Kaylor reflects on how Gaza is significant in a biblical story that doesn’t explicitly mention the place.
Unsettling Advent 2023, Day 11
This devotional poses a question ringing through the ages: Will we choose to adopt the values of Herod or the way of Jesus?
Unsettling Advent 2023, Day 1
Brian Kaylor reflects on state executions during Christmastime and the modern parallels with a biblical character we often leave out of our nativity sets and pageants.
Reading Genesis Literally … in Texas
Lawmakers are arguing that if the federal government can restrict structures in the Rio Grande, then they could use the same Act everywhere because of Noah’s flood. Putting aside the legal silliness of the appeal to Genesis, this issue of A Public Witness joins the
Some Baptists Debate About Women Preaching, Others Listen to Women Preach
Focusing almost entirely on the SBC not only minimizes the theological (and political and racial) diversity of Baptists, but it also privileges a patriarchal body over others.
Cracks in Our History
Word&Way Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on two memorials to an enslaved man on the campus of Samford University, and what this could teach us about telling the truth about the histories of our institutions and churches.
2022 in Review
Brian Kaylor takes a moment to thank everyone for being part of our 2022 journey. This includes a quick review of the year — including a countdown of the top 10 most-read pieces we published in our award-winning newsletter A Public Witness in 2022.
Unsettling Advent 2022, Day 28
Brian Kaylor reflects on the 1914 “Christmas truce” during World War I and why it he does not find it to be an inspiring take on what “peace on Earth” could look like today.
A War with Christmas
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on Russian pro-war propaganda dressed up like a Christmas decoration, which he calls a sacrilegious assault on celebrations of the birth of the Prince of Peace.
Unsettling Advent 2022, Day 18
Brian Kaylor writes that ten years ago today an armed man walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and opened fire. This massacre at Christmastime evokes memories of part of the biblical story we tend to leave out of our nativities and pageants.