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Featured
When Humanitarian Aid Becomes a Death Trap: A Christian Response to the Betrayal of Gaza
The co-founder of the Prayers for Peace Alliance makes the case that Johnnie Moore, the recently appointed chairman of the embattled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is getting away with using the Gospel to justify genocide.
Review: Religion in the Lands That Became America
In this new book, Thomas A. Tweed offers a sweeping retelling of American religious history that shows how religion has enhanced and hindered human flourishing from the Ice Age to the Information Age.
Cooperative Baptists Remember Historical Injustices, Confront Contemporary Ones
This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside the recent CBF annual gathering to consider how Christians can speak truthfully about the past and speak truth to power today.
Church
Churches to Ring Bells to Recall Start of Revolutionary War
This issue of A Public Witness explores the “Let Freedom Ring!” initiative’s remembrance of the past, which also serves as a warning about contemporary tyrannical threats.
Why Did Jesus Die? Churches Grapple With the Mystery of Atonement
In recent decades, many mainline Protestants have moved away from the Calvinist theory of penal substitutionary atonement, which summons up the idea of an angry God who needs to be appeased.
A Study Found Black Christians Often Distrust American Muslims. A New Program Hopes To Change That
In the sessions, Black faith leaders are schooled on the differences between Sunni, Shia, and Nation of Islam sects and discuss the privileges Black Christians can enjoy compared to Black Muslims.
Nation
Raining on the King’s Parade
While a few sprinkles dampened Trump’s birthday military parade, millions of Americans across the country showed up at rallies to declare “No Kings” and show opposition to the administration’s authoritarian rule.
Suspect in Killing of Minnesota Legislator Is a Minister Who Evangelized in Africa
Vance Boelter claimed to be educated at Christ for the Nations, a Bible school in Dallas, and preached in DR Congo in recent years.
An Unhealthy Blue ‘Sermon’
This issue of A Public Witness heads to “the land of 10,000 lakes” to consider Christian Nationalism and how it can emerge on the left as well as the right.
World
American Pilgrim Imprisoned in Assad’s Syria Calls His Release From Prison a ‘Blessing’
Travis Timmerman of Urbana, Missouri, said he had gone to Syria on a Christian pilgrimage and was not ill-treated while in Palestine Branch, a notorious detention facility operated by Syrian intelligence.
Pope Francis Makes Jubilee Year Appeal To End Hunger, Debt Woes and Death Penalty
The pope’s appeal was made for the World Day of Peace, coinciding with the launch of the 2025 Jubilee year.
From DC to the Vatican, Baby Jesus Is Wearing a Keffiyeh
The pro-Palestinian creche is intended to point out the disconnect between the idealized Bethlehem of most representations and the reality in present-day Gaza and the West Bank.
Editorials
The State Shouldn’t Pick Winners & Losers in Religion
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on legislation pushing the teaching of the Bible in public schools. He explores significant church-state problems that would arise from such efforts.
Executing Justice
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on news that DNA evidence tested FOUR years after the execution of a Black man in Arkansas suggests the state killed an innocent man. Kaylor also highlights the Baptist prophet who tried to stop the execution.
Al Mohler’s Religion
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor responds to a claim by Al Mohler of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary that Methodists who disagree on LGBTQ issues are from “two different religions.” Perhaps Mohler is right.
Word&Way Voices
Lausanne Movement Offers a Breath of Fresh Air to Arab Evangelicals
Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab documents how a leading evangelical group recently took a bold step away from pro-Trump American evangelicals.
Mending Broken Hearts
Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell reflects on ancient understandings of the heart and how they relate to our modern grief.
Palestinian and Jordanian Evangelicals Hold Rare Meeting in Amman
Daoud Kuttab reflects on a gathering that took place as the war in Gaza — where at least 23 Christians have been killed — has alienated many Palestinian Christians, who feel their co-religionists around the globe have abandoned them.
E-Newsletter
Inside Turning Point USA’s Pastors Summit
Why does Charlie Kirk, the new face of Christian Nationalism, say the church is in ‘wartime’ when Trump is in the White House and his party controls D.C.?
Review & Giveaway: Disciples of White Jesus
In her new book, journalist and pastor Angela Denker ventures into contested spaces to help readers understand what is going on with the radicalization of American boyhood.
Courting God & Mammon in Wisconsin
This issue of A Public Witness heads to the Cheese State to consider the church politicking of an Elon Musk-backed court hopeful.
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186. Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty on Authentic Christian Freedom
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty, a professor at Union Presbyterian Seminary in North Carolina and author of the new book Authentic Christian Freedom: Deconstructing the American Gospel of Liberty. She discusses issues of Christian ethics, liberty, fundamentalism, ministry, and seminary education. Note: Don't forget to subscribe to our award-winning e-newsletter… -
185. Mara Richards Bim on Holding Prayer Vigils Outside an ICE Office
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Mara Richards Bim about a weekly interfaith prayer vigil being held outside an ICE office in Dallas, Texas. She talks about how denominations are fighting back in court and the how Department of Homeland Security is co-opting Bible verses to justify ICE actions. She also discusses… -
184. Warren Throckmorton on Getting Jefferson Right
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Warren Throckmorton, a retired professor who has spent years debunking false claims by Christian Nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton. Throckmorton is coauthor of Getting Jefferson Right: Fact-Checking Claims About Thomas Jefferson and author of the forthcoming The Christian Past That Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That… -
183. Shannon Fleck of Faithful America
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Shannon Fleck, the new executive director of Faithful America. She discusses Christian Nationalism in Oklahoma and nationally. You can watch a video version of his conversation on YouTube. Fleck's predecessor, Rev. Nathan Empsall, previously appeared on episode 61 of Dangerous Dogma. He also wrote several columns… -
182. Ruth Braunstein on When the Wolves Came
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with sociologist Ruth Braunstein about her documentary podcast When the Wolves Came. You can also find her writings at her Substack newsletter Democracy Is Hard. Mentioned in the episode is Caleb Campbell, who previously appeared on episode 150 of Dangerous Dogma. Note: Don't forget to subscribe to… -
181. Angela Denker on Disciples of White Jesus
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with journalist and Lutheran minister Angela Denker about her forthcoming book Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood. You can watch a video version of this conversation here. You can also hear an earlier conversation with Denker in episode 68, and a conversation with Caleb Campbell… -
180. David Swartz on Rebel on Main
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with historian David Swartz about his new narrative podcast project Rebel on Main, which offers a historical and contemporary exploration of a Kentucky county and its unusual Confederate statue. You can watch a video version of this conversation here. (You can also hear an earlier episode with… -
179. Munther Isaac on Christ in the Rubble
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Rev. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, about his forthcoming book Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza. He also talks about Donald Trump's plan to "take over" Gaza, the importance of using the terms "genocide"… -
178. State Senator Shows How NOT to Read Proverbs
On Tuesday (Feb. 25), a session of the Oklahoma Senate transformed into a spontaneous Bible study. Or perhaps more of a Bible study cosplay demonstrating how not to read the Bible, specifically how not to read the Book of Proverbs. In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor unpacks the errors in how Proverbs was cited… -
177. Countering Sean Feucht with Karrie Gaspard-Hogewood
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Karrie Gaspard-Hogewood, a sociology doctoral fellow at Tulane University, about a protest march she organized to counter an event by Christian Nationalistic musician Sean Feucht in New Orleans on Feb. 8, 2025. You can learn more about Feucht at A Public Witness, including reports on his…
Books
Review: Mornings with Schleiermacher
In "Mornings with Schleiermacher: A Devotional Inspired by the Father of Modern Theology," Chad Bahl seeks to introduce a contemporary audience to the theological ideas of Friedrich Schleiermacher, one of the most important Christian theologians of the nineteenth century.
Review: Hebrews (Commentaries for Christian Formation)
In "Hebrews (Commentaries for Christian Formation)," New Testament scholar Amy Peeler offers insights into Christology, the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, and the letter’s canonical resonances.
Review: Irreverent Prayers
In "Irreverent Prayers: Talking to God When You’re Seriously Sick," Episcopal priests Elizabeth Felicetti and Samantha Vincent-Alexander offer readers a more candid way of communicating with God.
Review & Giveaway: The Good News of Church Politics
Theologian and pastor Ross Kane articulates a vision of how Christians can engage in public life that begins with the premise that all politics is local.