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This issue of A Public Witness explores what Scott Coley’s forthcoming book “Ministers of Propaganda: Truth, Power, and the Ideology of the Religious Right” reveals about the antidote to Christo-authoritarianism.

Kevin R. Johnson will be recommended for the congregation’s approval to lead the more than 200-year-old Abyssinian Baptist Church, considered by many to be the flagship of the Black church in America.

This issue of A Public Witness reflects on Genocide Awareness Month and how we can’t stop atrocities if we refuse to see them.

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Dangerous Dogma

Church

The lawsuit, filed by former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Adam Greenway, is the latest of the seminary's long-term fiscal woes.

Jeff Iorg, the longtime president of the SBC’s only seminary outside of the denomination’s historic Bible Belt heartland, is the incoming president and CEO of the denomination’s Executive Committee.

In an open letter, the Chicago pastor compares the California pastor to King opponents George Wallace and J. Edgar Hoover, calling MacArthur 'them in postmodern dress.'

Nation

‘There’s the sense that the liberal order is so corrupt that elite Catholics have to find positions of influence and use them in a kind of noble and appropriate way,’ said Kevin Vallier.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at the false claims of Christian persecution leveled against Biden in the midst of an acrimonious campaign.

U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a Republican from Michigan who used to serve as a Baptist pastor, suggested at a town hall during Holy Week that the Gaza Strip should be nuked.

World

This issue of A Public Witness explores the subversive power of public mourning — like what happened recently after the state murder of Russian political dissident Alexei Navalny — to better understand a Beatitude of Jesus.

Judges across Europe are having a tough time deciding whether asylum-seekers claiming religious persecution are ‘genuine’ Christians.

Eastern Orthodox leadership, despite lacking a single doctrinal authority like a pope, has been united in opposing recognition of same-sex relationships both within its own rites and in the civil realm.

Editorials

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.

As Brian Kaylor thinks about modern-day refugees fleeing a genocidal foreign dictator, he also wonders where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus spent the night on their journey from Bethlehem to Egypt. Where was their safe place to sleep and to enjoy a nice meal from strangers? And how were those people

In this issue of A Public Witness, Brian Kaylor introduces us to 10 gifts the proud “Christian Nationalist” on your list will love. But please don’t buy these unless you want to end up on the naughty list (and make the baby Jesus cry). Instead, these gift suggestions show us

Word&Way Voices

Azar Ajaj, president of Nazareth Evangelical College, brings our attention to overlooked Middle Eastern Christians as instruments that God is using to bring peace to the region.

Christmas reminds us it is precisely in the midst of the darkness of hatred that it is time for love to be born.

What does it mean to enter the Christmas story anew in these moments, as so many are desperate for God’s saving presence? To wrestle with this question is to live into this sacred season.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness digs into the recent Paul Pressler news and responses from leaders to investigate the roots of the SBC’s “conservative resurgence” and consider a more appropriate response than just continuing to water the tree.

This issue of A Public Witness looks back at the 'kneel-ins' of the civil rights movement to consider recent protests at prominent churches.

This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside the Poor People’s Campaign and its recent rallies around the country hoping to put issues of poverty on the public agenda in this election year.

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Podcasts

In episode 89 of Dangerous Dogma, Jason Porterfield talks about his new book Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace. He also discusses what peacemaking involves and how we sometimes misread stories about Jesus and violence.

Daniel Buttry, retired global consultant for peace and justice with International Ministries of the American Baptist Church, talks about his new book Healing the World: Gustavo Parajón, Public Health and Peacemaking Pioneer. He also discusses nationalism, truth-telling, and conflict transformation.

In episode 87 of Dangerous Dogma, Andrew Seidel, vice president of strategic communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, talks about his book American Crusade: How the Supreme Court Is Weaponizing Religious Freedom.

In episode 86 of Dangerous Dogma, Sara Billups talks about her new book Orphaned Believers: How a Generation of Christian Exiles Can Find the Way Home. She also discusses issues the impact of growing up with end-times theology, culture war politics,

Books

In "Gratitude: Why Giving Thanks Is the Key to Our Well-Being," Cornelius Plantinga makes the case that being grateful is the key to understanding our relationships with one another, the world around us, and God.

In "Being Real: The Apostle Paul’s Hardship Narratives and the Stories We Tell Today," Philip Plyming argues that there are profound lessons we can learn from Paul's critiques of the prevailing culture of Corinth.

In "Nice Churchy Patriarchy: Reclaiming Women's Humanity from Evangelicalism," Liz Cooledge Jenkins takes an unflinching look at the ways misogyny's subtler forms impact every aspect of women’s experiences in church.

Walter Brueggemann has written scores of books. If one wants to understand the insights of this biblical scholar, where does one begin? Beau Underwood suggests the best way to dive into Brueggemann is not through a book he wrote but